


Capturing a Dream

by mochegato



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Connerette, Connette, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Found Family, KonMari, MariKon, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is Not Ladybug, anymore, kind of, platonic dickinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27562708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochegato/pseuds/mochegato
Summary: Hawkmoth is defeated and Marinette is moving onto her next steps in her life.  With an amazing internship bringing her to the states where she will finish her last year of school before attending college, she is recruited to work with Young Justice.  But, since it is too dangerous for people to know the miraculous to be in play unnecessarily, she can no longer be Ladybug.  Now, she is Chimera, a combination of the fox and horse miraculous, still trying to balance school, design, and saving the world, and definitely NOT falling in love.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Dick Grayson, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 107
Kudos: 318





	1. Meeting the Team

This was it. She was excited. No excited wasn’t the word. Terrified? Yeah, that was closer. Marinette was about to step into the Young Justice base for the first time and meet her new teammates. What if they don’t like her? What if they don’t let her join the team? What if they let her join the team but they exclude her? What if they get mad at her because she won’t expose her identity and they think she doesn’t trust them? What if she messes up and she ends up getting someone killed? What if she gets one of her teammates killed? What if she gets someone else killed? What if… No! 

She wasn’t going to do that. She wasn’t the same 14 year old girl who spiraled into anxiety-induced, worst-case-scenario, death spirals. She was 17 now. She was in her final year of school before college, nearly an adult, legally, she was an adult. She was the Guardian. She was a hero. She was already in a prestigious internship with one of the biggest names in fashion. She was working with the Justice League, well Young Justice, but that was better because there wasn’t as much of a time commitment, which was _really_ good because she didn’t have much to spare… where was she going with this? Right! She was smart. She was competent. She was confident(ish). She was… standing outside the zeta tube opening staring at it like an idiot, and she was going to be late. 

She took a deep breath and ran her free hand over the costume she wasn’t quite used to yet, trying to find comfort in the feeling and focus her mind. She could do this. She may no longer be able to be Ladybug for secrecy reasons, but Ladybug wasn’t her only option. She was Chimera now and Chimera was not linked back to the miraculous. So this new and completely un-miraculous affiliated hero definitely wasn’t unifying the fox and horse miraculous. Chimera was a separate and unmiraculous hero. She was a new heroic entity; a powerful amalgamation of divergent parts; an illusion, who uses illusions; a dream that can never be captured. Chimera was just another magical hero working in the background.

Gone was the flashy, bright suit of a central hero. She was a shadow now and her suit reflected her new role. The base of the suit was a brown so dark, it almost looked black. Her knee-high boots and gloves that reached to midway up her bicep were both black, meeting with the brown core of the suit with a strip of deep orange. Her mask was the same dark brown color with deep orange at the corners. She no longer had her yoyo, but in its place was a rope that responded to her like her yoyo did. Her flute across her back completed her weaponry.

She was still a hero, just not a miraculous one, as far as anyone else knew. She was still protecting people for now, she just wasn’t on the front lines anymore. She was still protecting the miraculous and would for the rest of her life. And she was still… standing outside the Zeta tube opening, staring.

She closed her eyes, and walked through the portal. Before she let out her breath, she could feel a difference in the air around her. She heard a digital voice say “Recognize Chimera B12.” She opened one eye tentatively and jumped back with a quiet squeak when she saw Batman standing on the other side giving her an amused smile next to Black Canary and a red figure. 

Black Canary stepped forward, “Welcome to Mount Justice, Chimera. You’ve already met Batman. This is Red Tornado. He supervises the cave here.” Chimera nodded to him but before she could say anything Black Canary continued speaking. “We are very excited to have you here. While you are training and on missions, this will be your home. I know you have an apartment near your internship, but if you ever want to get away, you are always welcome to stay here whenever and however long you want to.” Her voice was warm and welcoming. She leaned over and lowered her voice, “lead lined walls and no bugs or cameras allowed in the personal rooms in case you want to drop your transformation while you are here.” She gave her a nod and started walking, motioning to Chimera to follow her.

“As discussed before, your team knows nothing about you. What you choose to disclose is your decision. Only Batman and I know anything more. The team is used to people hiding their identities so there is no pressure to give your personal identity. I mean, there might be teasing, but you are under absolutely no obligation to divulge and they will respect that. Especially since Robin is under the same requirement.” 

They entered into a small sitting area that appeared to be their common room. The first thing she noticed was a kitchen that was almost as nice as her parents’ kitchen in the bakery and significantly bigger. She let out a quiet “Wow” without even noticing she had done it. She would have to try that out as soon as she was able to get back to it.

“Pretty nice, huh?” She heard from behind her. She whirled around and finally noticed the other half of the room were a few couches and chairs were clustered in front of a television. More significantly, there was a red headed boy talking to her, standing in front of four other teens. They were looking at her with uncertainty and a slight bit of curiosity except the red headed boy who looked excited to meet her, and the larger black haired boy who looked a bit hostile.

“Uh, yeah. It’s… um, a really nice kitchen. It looks… really professional.” She stammered, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice.

The red head smiled brightly at her. “Only the best for the Justice League.”

“Alright team, it’s nice to see your smiling faces.” Black Canary started with more than a hint of sarcasm. “I would like to introduce you to your new team member. This is Chimera.” Chimera gave an awkward wave to the Young Justice members. “She was recruited by the Justice League. Her identity is secret and will stay that way, am I clear?” She stared at each of the team members one at a time. “Good. She is here under an outside deal so she may not always be available for missions, but she will be here whenever she can be.”

The red head raised his hand. “Wally, you don’t have to raise your hand.” Batman said tiredly.

“What is the outside deal? What does that even mean?”

“It means something else brought her to our vicinity and she is only available to us because of that. The details of the deal are not important. Only that she is a hero on your team and every bit as dedicated to the team as the rest of you.”

“How is she as dedicated if she can’t commit to being here?” Artemis snarked quietly to Superboy.

“We all have outside lives that demand our attention. There are times I can’t go out with the Justice League. One of the others cover for me. Are you suggesting I am not committed to the Justice League?” Batman stared harshly at her.

“No, sir.” Artemis shrunk back.

“I’m sorry, I have school and… other obligations, but I promise I will give you as much time and attention as I can spare without going insane. Learned that the hard way.” She looked down as she muttered the last part under her breath. She quickly looked back up hoping nobody heard her. Everyone seemed to have the same expressions on their faces except Superboy who was giving her a quizzical look. “I am committed to the team. I want to be here, I promise. Um… here, I brought macarons!” She said with forced cheeriness, attempting to placate their suspicions and hostility. She opened the lid to the box of macarons she had brought with her.

Chimera’s hair blew back as Wally rushed forward. He had already grabbed three macarons before she even saw him move. “These are delicious! Where did you get them?”

“Thank you. I made them. I like to bake.” She smiled broadly at him.

Wally stared at her with his jaw open, the macaron close to falling out of his mouth. “Marry me.” He said dreamily.

Chimera giggled at him. “How about I use the only-the-best kitchen to make something else for you a bit later instead?”

Wally gave her a bright grin. “That will work.” He looked at the rest of the macarons longingly then back at his teammates. “Uh…. These are absolutely terrible and you shouldn’t have to be subjected to them. I’ll just finish these off so you don’t have to.” He reached back toward the box but Chimera closed the lid and raised an amused brow at him.

“Move over,” Robin pushed Wally to the side. “Thank you Chimera. That was sweet of you.” He took a bite and looked back up at her with a smile. “Hey, Wally was right. These are delicious. Artemis, Kaldur, Superboy, get over here and try these.”

Kaldur and Artemis came over, Artemis shoving Wally again for no apparent reason. Superboy stayed where he had been and continued to eye her suspiciously. Wally looked at them with a pout. “Hey! Leave some for me.”

“You’ve already had a bunch. The rest of us get some too.” Artemis rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I have a fast metabolism. I need to eat.” Wally whined.

“Thank you… I’m sorry, I didn’t get any of your names.” Chimera said apologetically.

“Tall, blonde, and hostile is Artemis. Tall, blonde, and aloof is Kaldur. Tall, dark, and broody back there is Superboy. You already met Wally, aka Kid Flash. And I’m Robin.” Robin gave her a charming smile and shook her hand.

She gave them all a brilliant smile. “It is nice to meet you all. I’m really excited to work with you.” Wally smiled broadly at her and gave a lovesick sigh. Artemis groaned and turned away.

Kaldur moved forward and extended his hand to her, “Welcome to the team.”

She shook his hand and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you.”

“Okay, now that everyone has introduced themselves, let’s get to the training area. I’m interested to see how Chimera’s powers work with the rest of yours.” Black Canary announced.

“The training area is just this way,” Robin said with a suave smile, sweeping his arm out toward the direction they were supposed to move.

“Thanks,” Chimera smiled anxiously at him.

Wally came up on the other side of her and bumped his shoulder gently into hers. “Don’t worry, we’ll take it easy on you.” He said with a wink.

Chimera looked at him blank faced for a few seconds before throwing him a sassy grin. “It’s not me I’m worried about, speedy.”

“Oh no, Speedy was someone else.” Artemis threw in, moving past the group.

“You’re kidding.” Chimera stared at her.

“Nope.” Artemis responded popping the p. “A whole different hero. Not even fast either. Makes no sense.”

“Good to know.” Chimera nodded absentmindedly.

“Oh, she can never meet Speedy.” Wally looked at the other heroes with wide eyes.

“Is he that bad?” Chimera asked, concern seeping into her eyes.

Artemis turned back to her and grinned wickedly, “No, he’s afraid you’ll start dating him.”

“Ahh. I don’t date teammates so, don’t worry.” Chimera reassured Wally with a clap on his back. Artemis barely contained the chuckles that were fighting to spill out.

Wally gave her a distressed look, “But, teammates are great. They are supportive and understand you… They’re… They’re the ideal dating material.”

“You make some interesting points.” She nodded as though contemplating his words. “Luckily, you have very pretty and interesting teammates, four at least from what I can see. So you have a wealth of dating material at your disposal.” Chimera gave him a wink and walked ahead of him. Artemis cackled loudly and threw her arm over Chimera’s shoulders, walking along with her. “I think I’m going to like having you here.”

Chimera smiled at her. “Good. I hope so.”

Black Canary gave them a serious look and stood in the middle of the sparring area as the team lined up around the edges. “Let’s get started. This is an exhibition sparring match. We want to see what you can do and what your teammates can do and see how you can mesh.”

“You don’t know what she can do?” Kaldur asked.

“ _I_ know. It’s you I’m concerned about. You’re going to be working with her and leading her. You need to know what she can do. So, Chimera? Go full force. We want to know what to plan for in the field.” Black Canary commanded.

Chimera looked at her unsure. “Full force? Are you sure? I don’t want to… That can be really dangerous.”

Black Canary nodded in understanding. “I get that, but I assure you it will be fine. We just need to see where you are in your skills, so we need you to give it your all.”

Chimera’s eyes got even bigger, “I’m not going to kill someone to prove a point. I can do a demonstration instead.”

The rest of the team looked at her insulted. Robin finally spoke up to scoff at her. “We can take it. We’ve dealt with worse. Don’t worry.”

Ladybug looked back at him with wide eyes. “It isn’t… I don’t think I’m a better fighter than you. I’m positive you all have better training than I do, especially since I don’t have any, it’s just… I’ve brought down the Eiffel Tower with one hit before. Thank god for miraculous ladybugs. But you all look a bit more…” she struggled for an appropriate word to finish her thought, “…vulnerable. I really don’t want to hurt any of you.” She shot him a pleading look.

Superboy stepped forward with a determined look on his face. “Then try me. I’m less…” he paused as if thinking, “what was that word you used… Vulnerable.”

She looked at him uncertain then looked over to Black Canary, taking note of her stern expression. She nodded and stepped onto the mat. “I’ll make it work.” Chimera offered uncertainly.

They faced each other for a few moments before settling into a fighting stance. When she was ready, Chimera nodded to Superboy. He rushed at her and extended his arm at the last second to deliver a haymaker punch. Chimera bent backwards and twirled in a semi-circle so she was standing behind him and kicked him in the butt, sending him sprawling on the floor. He got up and glared at her. He rushed her again, this time aiming for her waist so she couldn’t duck under him. She stared at him coming at her like a deer in headlights. Superboy got a smug glint in his eye as he closed in on her. At the last second, Chimera jumped up and rolled down his back, landing on her feet behind him, the wide eyed expression long gone.

“We need you to try, Chimera. We need you to actually fight, not just dodge.” Batman stated sternly.

Chimera looked over to him to nod at the instruction. The momentary distraction was enough for Superboy to land a hard hit to her stomach. The force of the impact sent her flying across the mat. The team winced and groaned in sympathy as she hit a wall with a hard thump. Superboy moved over to her to check on her but stopped half way to her. Marinette stood up and cocked her head to the side, examining Superboy. She raised her brow and asked calmly, “So… super strength. Invulnerability?”

He nodded at her. “Okay then.” She smirked at him, walking back to the central area of the room. “Let’s do this.” He smiled slightly and nodded. She immediately launched herself at him, catching him by surprise. She punched him hard enough to send him across the room in the opposite direction. He slid toward the wall but was able to regain enough control to use the wall as a springboard to launch himself back at her. She saw him coming and twisted at the last second, using his momentum against him to push him off balance. He recovered quicker than she expected and swept her legs out from under her. She used her momentum to turn the fall into a flip, leading to a series of flips and twists taking her away from him, giving her some space to think.

They circled around each other trying to plan their next move. Suddenly Chimera stopped and looked like she just realized something. “Oh I forgot. I’m supposed to be showing my skills…” she started innocently. Superboy took advantage of her apparent distraction to jump at her again but that was the moment she had been waiting for. “Voyage” she whispered and created a portal behind her. She stepped out of the way at the last possible second, sending Superboy through the portal at full speed. The portal ended close to the rock wall on the other side of the room. Superboy almost slammed into the wall with his full force but she had left him enough room to bounce back off the wall and launch himself back through the portal and back in front of her, throwing a punch toward her sternum that she was just barely able to twist away from, rolling along his arm until she was in the perfect position to elbow him in the back of his head. He grunted and turned back toward her, circling around her again.

“Full force, Chimera,” Black Canary chastised her.

“Not going to make him bleed on purpose for a game, Ms. Canary.” Chimera responded, still focused on Superboy. “Besides, we’re not done yet.” She turned to Superboy, “Right?” He nodded at her, an amused glint in his eyes. “I haven’t even showed off all my skills yet.”

“Well, let’s see those skills you keep talking about.” Superboy taunted her.

“If you say so _Superboy_.” She smirked at him then frowned. “I don’t appreciate that your actual name is the name I would have called you to taunt you. You’re making my job harder.”

He frowned at her, the amused look that had been in his eyes dropping. “So sorry my name is an inconvenience. You can call me The Weapon like my makers did if you prefer.”

Chimera stood up straight, fidgeting and frowning at him. “That’s… really?” She looked around to the other heroes. They all nodded solemnly.

She looked back at him with softer eyes. “What do you want to be called?” She asked in a kind tone.

“I… Superboy.” He said stiffly, not exactly sure how to respond to the shift in atmosphere.

Chimera nodded and gave him a warm smile. “Superboy it is. No nicknames unless you approve of them.”

“As heartwarming as this is, you are supposed to be sparring.” Black Canary reminded them.

“Right,” Chimera said shook her head to refocus herself. “Sorry.” She whispered “Mirage,” bringing her flute up to her lips. As soon as the notes were heard, a dozen replicas of her appeared and began running around the circle. Superboy tried to scan them but they all looked identical even with his infrared vision. He stilled to listen for a heartbeat or breathing, but he couldn’t detect it in any of them. He looked around wildly. It was a sea of dark brown and bright orange. He nodded to himself calculating the possibilities. Most likely she managed to split herself. So either they are all fully sentient or there is a central figure controlling them. He’d have to hope for the latter.

His eyes flicked to one of the figures running at him. The figure jumped into a flying kick. He dodged out of the way and rolled to his feet, looking around again for the next attack. He didn’t wait long. Another figure ducked low to sweep his feet. He jumped over her but felt a sharp pain in his side as one of the replicas body checked him with enough force to knock him into the far wall. 

Superboy shook his head to clear it. When he took more than a few seconds to recover, the replicas looked at him concerned. One of them finally moved forward and asked “Are you okay to continue?” 

He stared at the replica for a few moments before nodding. “We’re not done yet.” All the replicas smiled at him and moved into new positions, waiting for him to indicate he was ready. As soon as he nodded two replicas moved to attack him, one went high, one went for his legs. He lunged for the one going high, jumping over the one going for his legs. As soon as he reached her, she disappeared. Not meeting the resistance he had expected, the force of the lunge caused him to lay out flat on the floor. He grunted and jumped up before any of the replicas could attack again. 

As soon as he was up he looked around with a grin. “Mirage,” he repeated. They were all an illusion. He just had to find the real one. Two attacked him again. He hit one causing it to disappear but the other one hit him with her flute, knocking him to the side. He shook his head again and turned back to them and backed away, giving himself space. He just had to find the one. There had to be an indication of which one was the real one. He couldn’t use his infrared vision or hearing. Maybe there was something about them. He stared at them as they circled around each other. There! There was one with a different shade of orange, the shade Chimera had before the match. All the replicas had bright orange but the real Chimera had deep orange accents. 

He kept his eyes moving so she wouldn’t know he’d made her. He moved forward toward one of the replicas moving to punch her. Chimera attacked from the side again, coming at him before he could touch the replica and make it disappear. He grinned to himself. At the last second, he changed his trajectory and sent another haymaker toward her. He jerked back in pain as the replica he had been moving toward originally made contact, knocking the air out of his lungs. He grunted in anger and confusion as a rope was tied around him, pinning down his arms. His legs were swept out from under him causing him to land hard. He trashed with all his strength as he felt her tying his legs too. He kept thrashing against the rope, but no matter how hard he pushed and pulled, the rope showed no indication of weakening. 

After a few moments of him pointlessly struggling, Black Canary walked over and declared Chimera the winner. She smiled excitedly at Chimera. “Now we know what we’re working with and we can plan how to incorporate your skills into missions and approaches to your training.”

Chimera nodded in understanding and looked over to the team who were still watching her in various degrees of surprise. Kaldur nodded in approval. Wally and Artemis stared at her in shock. Robin was pointing and laughing at Superboy. Chimera glowered at him and turned back to Superboy, releasing the rope so he could get up. 

As soon as he was freed, Superboy jumped up and rubbed his arms, glaring at the floor. Chimera smiled nervously in his direction, but he refused to look at her and had turned his body away from her. She sighed and looked down too, shifting nervously. After a few moments, she started gathering up the rope to tie it back around her waist. She furrowed her brows at the sound of Robin still laughing, which seemed to upset Superboy even more. She narrowed her eyes at him and whipped the rope out in his direction. It snapped a few inches away from his face with a crack so loud it reverberated throughout the cave. Robin jumped away awkwardly and fell backwards, landing on his butt. 

Superboy looked from Robin to her. He let out a small laugh and gave her a smile. Chimera took it as a good sign and smiled back at him. “That was a lot of fun. You are really good at picking up on details, otherwise that color trick wouldn’t have worked.” Her voice was soft, like she was addressing a scared child.

He nodded at her and quietly said, “Thanks. It was fun.”

“Does that mean we can do it again sometime? I need practice sparring and I’m usually afraid I’ll hurt someone when I’m in the suit and when I’m not, it isn’t as effective. I mean, helpful still, but not as effective.” He stared at her for a few seconds but finally nodded at her.

“That was a pretty good introduction but it’s getting late now. I think it’s time to call it a night. Red Tornado, can you take Chimera to the room she will be using so she can recharge?” Black Canary asked.

When Chimera returned a few minutes later, the group smiled at her and gave their goodbyes. They made plans for everyone to return the next day for more training. One by one, they all left through the Zeta tubes except for Superboy. Chimera looked at him confused. “Are you not leaving too?”

“No.” He stated coldly.

“Why not? I mean… if you don’t mind me asking.” She stammered out.

“Because I live here.” He grumbled back at her.

“Alone?” She gasped.

“With Red Tornado.” He corrected defiantly.

“But no other… people? In this big, empty, cold place?” She looked out over the cave, the empty, cold, inhospitable place he was going to call home.

“I like being alone.” He stated in an annoyed voice.

Something that looked like anger flashed across her face transforming into a determined look before she smoothed it out and gave him a cheeky grin. “That’s a shame.” 

He narrowed his eyes looking at her suspiciously, “Why is that?”

“I’m moving in.” Her smile grew bigger.

He furrowed his brow and frowned, “What?”

“I’m moving in. I have school and, uh… stuff during the day, but I’ll be here in the mornings and at night, most weekends.” She nodded at him. “It will be like a sleepover every night… except we’ll be sleeping in separate rooms.”

He stared at her for a few seconds, unsure how to react. “Whatever,” he grunted walking back toward the residence area. “Dinner is usually in like 30 minutes.” He called over his shoulder. She smiled in his direction. It wasn’t a warm welcome but it was better than nothing. 

“Are you sure about this? It isn’t required for you to live here. Most of the members don’t.” Black Canary reassured her.

“That’s why I’m doing it. I’ve already had one teammate who had to live essentially alone and isolated in a big, empty space. He hated it. It messes with your self-worth and your ability to interact with other people, no matter how badly you want to. It scrapes away at your humanity. I couldn’t really do anything for his living situation, but I can do something for Superboy.”

“It will make keeping your identity more difficult.” Batman warned her softly.

“I know, but he’s my teammate. I won’t abandon him. And I need a friend here too. I’ll be all alone otherwise, so… it will be mutually beneficial… I hope.” She added tentatively.

Batman and Black Canary shared an approving look with each other and turned back to her. “Okay. Let us or Red Tornado know if you need anything. We really think you are going to fit in amazingly with this team.”

Chimera smiled at them and shifted slightly to look out over the rest of the cave. “I think so, too.”


	2. First Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette/Chimera is going on her first mission, if she makes it on time. Things don't go as planned on the mission and Chimera gets caught up in an unexpected complication, derailing the entire mission. Later, Chimera and Superboy get to know each other better as they watch a movie.

She was late. She was late. She was sooooooooo late. Stupid last minute fabric misorder that caused a backup in production, which left everyone scrambling and rushing to figure out a solution. Bright side, they figured out a solution that was better than the original and Marinette was a huge part of it, gaining her accolades from her supervisor and the director of design. Down side, Chimera was now extremely late for the mission briefing. Her _first_ mission briefing. She would be lucky if she made it there before it was over.

Marinette ducked into an alley close to the zeta tube and transformed. She grimaced as she stood in front of the opening. There was no way to make this discrete. It was going to announce her lateness for everyone to hear. She couldn’t portal in just to avoid embarrassment because that was considered “personal use” and she didn’t know how much time they would have before they had to leave so she couldn’t take the chance that she would have to detransform, feed Kaalki, then retransform. So she was just going to have to deal with the extreme embarrassment. She took a deep breath and walked through the opening.

“Recognize Chimera B12”

Chimera let out a deep sigh. Yeah, there was no way they didn’t hear that. She looked at the Team and noted their expressions. Not as bad as she had been expecting, but she still felt terrible. She rushed over to the Team, standing behind everyone and trying to give Batman’s image on the screen her full attention.

When Batman paused to pull up a schematic of the area they were focusing on, Superboy leaned over to her. “You’re late.” He said in a quietly gruff voice.

She looked up and scowled at him. “I’m aware,” she hissed back. “Couldn’t get away.”

“Right. It’s not like we’re doing anything important here.” He sniped quietly.

“I know we are. But my personal life is important too. If I don’t keep my… outside deal happy, I don’t stay here. I get sent home and I am no longer on the Team.” He furrowed his brow in surprise. She frowned at him, feeling guilty for not being faster and looked back toward Batman. “It’s a balancing act. A balancing act I’m clearly failing at. Sorry.”

He watched her for a few more seconds before returning his attention to Batman as well. “Sorry,” he grumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Now that Chimera has arrived, I’ll review roles. Aqualad, Artemis, Kid Flash, Robin, and Superboy, you will all be on tracking duty. You will work together on the ground to track the subject.” They nodded at him. 

“Chimera, you will be on distance reconnaissance, observing the team from a distance. I don’t want you interacting unless necessary. Nobody knows about you yet and I want to keep it that way. I want you calling out positions when needed and using mirage if necessary.” She nodded at him. “When you find him, report in, and I’ll recover him. DO NOT ENGAGE. If at any point you need assistance, CALL IT IN. Don’t try to prove yourselves by doing it on your own. Everyone needs help sometimes. Make sure you are reporting your movements.” His voice made clear there was no room for argument or leeway in his statement. He stared at each of them to make sure they all understood how serious he was. “You leave in 5.”

The ride to the site was shorter than Chimera expected. As soon as they landed, they tested out their coms and moved off the ship. Aqualad and Superboy led the way off the ship. Artemis and Chimera followed behind, with Kid Flash and Robin bringing up the rear. After a few seconds they heard Kid Flash over the coms “What do you think I need to do to get Aqualad to pair me up with Chimera on the next mission? I’d kill for some alone time with her.” 

Everyone froze immediately. Kid Flash’s eyes went wide in embarrassment looking at each of them as they reacted. Aqualad shot him an exasperated look. Superboy stared daggers at him. Robin chuckled and moved away from him, leaving him to deal with the repercussions on his own. Chimera stared straight ahead, her eyes wide in shock. Artemis continued looking straight ahead as well, but instead of staring at nothing like Chimera, she stared at Superboy. “If he gets alone time with you, I get alone time with Superboy.” She grinned at him when he gave her a confused look.

Chimera groaned and let out a frustrated breath. "Are you guys kidding me?” She exclaimed loudly looking at them. “It’s like Felix all over again. Can we focus on the mission, please?"

Robin stopped walking and turned back to her. "Felix?"

Chimera’s eyes bugged out for a second chastising herself for giving away that clue to her identity, before her face went slack. She turned away from the group and started walking away. "How about we agree whatever personal information we find out about one another during a mission we ignore? Now let's track this guy down. I’m moving to my position." The rest of the Team looked at each other and nodded. They would table that conversation until later. Right now, they needed to focus on the mission. Once Chimera was in her position, they’d move to their own positions.

After about 5 minutes Chimera still hadn’t checked in. The Team gave each other anxious looks. They were ready to get moving and didn’t appreciate having to wait to move. “Chimera, are you in position?” Aqualad asked through the coms. 

There was a full 20 second pause before her response came. “Having a bit of trouble getting into position. I’ve come across a problem.” She grunted.

“If you are lost, you should be able to follow the map on your flute. Get in position. We can’t start until you are.” Aqualad chastised her.

They heard a few noises coming from Chimera’s com but no response to Aqualad’s question. “Chimera! Stand down and get in position.”

“Your first mission and already disobeying orders?” Artemis snorted. “Damn, I’m not even that cocky.”

Chimera’s com finally crackled to life again. “To be clear, you want me to stop fighting the guy that jumped me and is currently trying to kill me?”

“There’s a guy attacking you?” Robin whipped around toward the direction he thought she was in.

“You thought I was making these noises for fun?” She huffed at him.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Superboy demanded starting to run towards her position.

“I’m just getting my breath back. He caught me by surprise and got in a lucky hit.” She grumbled.

“Who is it?” Aqualad asked sternly moving toward her as well, but slower than Superboy.

“I’m not sure. Hey scary looking guy trying to kill me, my teammates want to know your name… uh huh. Really? I would have thought… I mean, not to criticize,” she grunted a few times as she jumped away from him or struck him, “but isn’t that a little… You know what, I really don’t have the right to critique names as being too on the nose. He says his name is Killer Croc.” She paused for a few seconds giving a grunt before speaking again. “He says to say hi.” She said slightly strained.

“Damn it.” Robin cursed.

“We’re on our way.” Aqualad assured her and nodded to the Team to start moving.

“Here already.” Kid Flash reported. “He’s not even part of the mission! How did you find him?” He asked incredulously.

“I didn’t go looking for him! I’m just lucky apparently.” She chuckled out wryly. “Look out, Kid Flash!”

“I’m almost there.” Superboy called to her.

“Take your time. We’re just getting to know each other. He said he wants to have fun with me later.” Chimera commented with a fake casualness.

“I think your definitions of fun might not match.” Robin remarked drolly.

“Only one way to find out.” She shrugged.

“We’re super excited you’ve decided to come out from the sewers. We’re looking forward to chatting with you.” Kid Flash added coldly, running to hit him. Killer Croc turned just out of his reach and caught him with his tail instead, sending Kid Flash flying down the street.

“Kid Flash!” Chimera yelled moving toward him.

“I’ll be there in about 20 seconds.” Superboy stated. 

Chimera nodded even though none of her team could see it and turned back to Killer Croc. “I’ll have him ready for you.” She whispered to her coms. “Hey evil killer guy, I heard you were difficult. You’re really embarrassing yourself here. I expected better.” She loudly taunted Killer Croc. 

“What are you doing?” Superboy yelled into the coms.

They could hear Killer Croc growling at Chimera before she whispered, “Mirage…” but nothing around her seemed to have changed. Slightly louder she said, “Superboy, expect him from above you in 3, Voyage…. 2, 1.”

Killer Croc lunged at her, throwing his full weight at her in an attempt to break as many bones as he could with his impact. Instead of hitting her, he found himself falling from a portal in the sky a few stories up. He braced himself to hit the ground, but it never came. Instead, he got hit from the side with the force of a building collapsing. He hit a nearby building with a sickening crack. The force of the impact crushed the bricks where he hit and caused cascading cracks radiating out from the impact site. 

Killer Crock shook his head as he fell to the ground on all fours and looked over where the first hero had been. Everything looked exactly the same until suddenly she disappeared and a portal stood where she had been. She reappeared a few feet away at Kid Flash’s side. He shook his head to try to make sense of the change and looked back to the building that had hit him. He barely had time to take note of a boy in a black shirt and red ‘S’ stalking toward him, eyes glazed with rage, before the boy raised his arm and punched him again, knocking him back into the building. 

Superboy hit him again and again until Killer Croc passed out from the beating. Superboy raised his arm again but stopped when Chimera laid her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said softly but firmly. “He’s down. He isn’t a threat anymore.”

He lowered his arm breathing heavily, still glaring at the villain.

“Where do we want him to go, Aqualad?” Chimera spoke quietly into her com. “I need a destination to move him.”

“We’ll do it the old fashioned way today and call the police. I’ll make sure they show you Arkham later.” Aqualad stated calmly coming around the corner to observe the scene.

“Guess you’ll never know if your definitions match up now.” Artemis commented coming up next to Chimera.

“Shame. He looked… interesting.” Artemis let out a quiet laugh. 

“How’s he doing?” She asked nodding toward Kid Flash as she moved to check on him. He was now starting to push up onto his knees, though he was still swaying a bit.

“He seems okay, more dazed than anything. We’ll have to give a better checkup when we get back.” Chimera reported. “I have to recharge anyway. Should I take him back to the ship?” Chimera asked Aqualad. He nodded.

“Artemis, go with her. Robin, I want you here to deal with the police. This is your town, I’m sure you know them. I’ll call it into Batman and see what he wants to do with the original mission. Superboy, I want you to keep an eye on him until the police get here. _Do not_ hit him again unless he wakes up.” Superboy nodded, never moving his glare from the villain’s collapsed body.

Superboy waited restlessly to check on Chimera, his hands curled into white-knuckled fists the entire time they spoke to the police. After about an hour, Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin returned to the ship. Superboy automatically sought out Chimera. She was sitting with Kid Flash and Artemis, Kid Flash talking and making wild gestures while Artemis and Chimera laughed at him. Superboy looked up to meet Chimera’s eyes and kept eye contact for a few seconds. When she smiled at him, he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding since she was first attacked and relaxed his hands. Chimera walked over to him and gently laid her hand on his arm. “You okay?” Her eyes were filled with concern.

“I’m fine.” He growled. “Are you okay?” He looked her up and down, searching for any signs or injury. “How could you let him get you like that?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse and still won the fight.” She gave him a small smile. “He hits hard, but not as hard as some super teammates I’ve gone up against.” He huffed at her, his eyes still furrowed and frowning at her. “He got a lucky hit in. It happens. I recovered and I had teammates there to help. Thank you.” Her eyes were shining with gratitude and softness. Superboy’s eyes softened too and nodded at her. 

She could see he was still tense. Watching a teammate get hurt had that effect on people. She certainly had that reaction when Adrien or Alya or Nino or any of her old team took a hard hit. “Can I give you a hug?” She asked tentatively. Hugging her friends after the fight had always calmed her down. She hoped it did the same for him.

He stared at her uncertain how to respond for a few seconds but finally nodded again and opened his arms to her. She smiled at him and walked into his embrace, holding him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her firmly to his chest. He rested his head on hers, holding her close for a few minutes, slowly relaxing in the knowledge she was safe and close. 

<><><><><>

Superboy watched Chimera as she sketched in the common room. She sat with her back against the armrest of the couch, her legs stretched out across the couch. Luckily, she was short enough that it still left room for Superboy. She had turned on some old looking movie she was barely paying attention to.

He walked in, sat on the free cushion, and watched the movie for a few moments. “What even is this? This is terrible.”

She looked up startled like she hadn’t noticed him sit down. “Hey. This is _Highlander_.” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She gave him a sheepish grin. “One of my friends is a movie guy. He thought I might like it. Good period costumes, he said. Fun sword play and light shows.”

He nodded and looked back to the movie. After a few minutes of glancing at Chimera from the corner of his eye he finally asked the thought that had been on his mind since their mission. "So… who's Felix?" He didn’t look away from the movie when he asked.

Chimera glared at him. "I thought we agreed we forget any personal information we find out during a mission."

He finally looked over at her with a dubious look. "No, you suggested that. None of us agreed to it." He leaned back and rested his elbow on the back of the couch. "So, tell me about Felix and how do I find him? I just want to talk to him."

She snorted. “You’d be the first. Most want to punch him in the face. Which is exactly what I did and I can assure you it is in fact as gratifying as you hope it would be.” She gave him a grin. He huffed out a laugh before turning his attention to the movie.

After a few more moments, she looked back up at him. “So… are you excited for school?” 

He groaned. “No.”

She furrowed her brow. She really wished she could go with him to help him at school. She was nervous about making friends in her new school too, but at least she was used to school. This was going to be Superboy’s first time going to school at all. She really wanted to forget about the whole identity issue and go with him, or get them to send him to her school so she could keep a covert eye on him, but they wanted to keep him close. “Sorry,” she mumbled instead. “Do you know what you’re going to wear?” 

He looked at her for a second or two as he thought about it. He motioned to his shirt and gave her a confused look. She looked back at him in horror. “You can’t wear that! Secret identity. You have to wear something different.”

He groaned and huffed at her. He thought for a second then took off his shirt, turned it inside out, and put it back on that way. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and she blushed heavily before turning back down to her sketchbook. “Yeah, um… No.” She stammered out, focusing solely on the blank page in front of her and willing her blush to go away. This is not how teammates react to other teammates. “I’ll come up with something else for you. What colors do you like? “

He furrowed his brow and looked down at his shirt. “Black… red…dark.”

She nodded, “Broody colors. Got it.” He scowled at her. She gave him a cheeky grin. “I’ll have something for you tomorrow. We’ll work on what your style is as you decide what you like. I should get your measurements though.” She looked down at her notebook and started sketching again. After a few moments of sketching, she looked over shyly. “But, so you know, maybe don’t do _that_ at school.” She said motioning toward his shirt.

He frowned at her, “Why?”

She stared at him incredulously for a few moments, trying to decide if he was serious or not. She finally realized he was when he continued to frown at her, confused about her concern. She wasn’t sure whether his innocence was incredibly sweet or concerning. “Oh, my sweet summer child, I really wish I could be there to protect you tomorrow, but… identity, you know? So I’m going to need you to protect yourself.”

“I’ll be fine.” He grumbled, turning to the movie.

She continued to stare at him a bit longer before speaking up again. “You know you’re handsome, right?”

His head whipped toward her, his eyes wide. “You think so?”

She let out a disbelieving laugh and smiled at him. “I know so. Extremely handsome and broody. A bad boy with a good heart.” His cheeks started turning pink as she spoke. Every word turned them darker. “People are going to be falling all over themselves to get close to you. Boys, girls, thems. You’re going to get all of their attention. Some will show it like Artemis, some more subtle, some less subtle. You’re going to get a lot of attention at school, people wanting to get close to you because you’re handsome, not everyone, but some.” She paused to look at him earnestly. “Just be careful. Make friends with people who make you feel better, happier, lighter. You don’t have to make friends with anyone, but if you meet someone you like, you should. Although if it seems like something someone says is too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” She warned him with a dark look crossing her eyes quickly.

“I don’t need more friends. I have enough friends. Friends who think I’m extremely handsome.” He grinned at her.

She burst out laughing not expecting him to be that bold. She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need more friends, but more friends can make life better sometimes. If it’s the right people.” He grunted and turned back to the movie. 

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Chimera sketching different outfits for Superboy, Superboy watching the movie and frowning occasionally. The silence was broken occasionally with Chimera asking him if he liked some element of a character’s costume or not. About half an hour into the movie Superboy grumbled, “This movie is depressing.”

Chimera looked up from her third sketch and took notice of the movie again. “What makes you say that? The effects aren’t _that_ bad, not for that time anyway. I mean the sword fighting could use some work and the accents are _terrible_ , but… I think it’s fun.”

Superboy continued to watch the movie for a while longer. “I don’t age either.” He said quietly. Chimera looked at him questioningly. He sighed and looked down. “I’ll be this age, physically at least, for the rest of my life. Part of the cloning process.”

Chimera gave him a sad look and reached out her foot, the only part of her body that was close enough to touch him, to pat his leg. “At least you’ll be hot.” She offered with a sympathetic smile. He huffed at her and returned to watching the movie, but he couldn’t help the small smile on his lips.

She watched the movie with him for a while longer watching as the main character’s wife died of old age in his arms while he was still the same age as when they met. She frowned at the screen and said quietly, “I’ll age, but much, much slower than everyone else.” Superboy looked over at her in surprise. She offered him a mirthless smile. “It’s part of the powers I have now. I’ll live for centuries if I want to.” She looked back to the movie and frowned as the main character buried his wife. “I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.”

Superboy nodded at her. “At least you’ll be hot.” He offered with a smile.

She laughed out loud at him. Once she settled down she gave him a crooked smile. “I’d take that more to heart if you had any idea what I look like.”

He gave her a small smile and watched the rest of the movie in silence. When it was over, he looked over at Chimera to find her examining him with her eyes narrowed as though sizing him up. “What?” he demanded.

“You should use the name Conner for school.”

“Like the guy in the movie?”

“Yeah. You need a name. Conner’s a good name. I think it suits you.” She nodded as she said it, like it was decided.

He fought the blush that wanted to appear again. If she liked the name, that’s what it would be. “I can live with Conner.” He nodded nonchalantly, trying not to give away how significant he thought it was.

“No, _I_ live with Conner.” She gave him a cheeky grin and started laughing at her own bad joke. He groaned and threw a pillow at her. Thankfully, she was in her suit because he threw it with enough force to burst the pillow open when it hit her. She laughed harder as the fluff rained down on them.

“But, so you know, maybe don’t tell jokes like that at school.” He said in mock distain.

She smiled wistfully at her sketchbook. “Yeah, I think my old partner rubbed off on me. He would have loved that joke.”

“Old partner?”

“Yeah… um… I don’t think… identity secrets, you know?”

“Okay. Can you say, is he still alive?”

“Yes, he is.”

“What happened? Why isn’t he your partner anymore?” He paused for a few seconds to gauge her reaction. “If you can say.” He added quickly.

“I can’t…identity.” She gave him an apologetic look. They sat without looking at each other for a while. “He’s not a hero anymore.” She whispered after a few minutes. He looked up at her with wide eyes. “Oh, no. He didn’t become a villain.” She rushed to reassure him. “He just… he went through _a lot_ and decided to walk away.”

“Do you miss him?”

“Um…I miss…” She thought how to word her response. She wanted to answer him honestly, but it wasn’t safe for anyone to know they were still close. “Yes.” She answered instead.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. He was my teammate, my best friend. I’m happy he did what he had to do to take care of himself. He’s happier now, or he will be eventually. And now I have a new team and more friends. We both did what we had to do.”

Conner nodded and looked around the room trying to figure out how to make the air feel less awkward. His eyes landed on the end of the credits. “He’s not the guy that recommended this movie is he? Because that is not a good friend.”

She barked out a laugh. “He’s not. But the one that recommended it is like a brother, so watch it.” She narrowed her eyes at him and pointed her pencil at him in mock threat.

“Maybe I’ll get to meet him someday then.” He kept his voice light but gave her an uncertain look.

She gave him a brilliant smile and nodded. “I hope so.” He smiled back at her and helped pick up the pillow fluff that surrounded them.


	3. Betrayed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cave is invaded by the Reds while Chimera (Marinette) is already weak. She has to figure out how to help while dazed and hurt.

“I don’t understand American pies.” Chimera mused as she pulled an apple pie out of the oven. “It’s like a tart but not as good. Just make a tart.”

Conner looked up at her in annoyance. “If you don’t want to make it, don’t make it. Why are you complaining? And why are you even wasting time making it instead of sleeping? Today was the first day in two weeks you could have slept past 6 and you’re doing this instead.”

“I’m in America, I want to try making an apple pie. I just don’t understand it. And I’m making it because I like baking and I promised Wally I’d make him one a few weeks ago and he keeps asking.” She hummed examining the highly decorated crust. “Maybe I’ll understand once I eat it. And I’m fine.” He looked at her disbelievingly. “ _I am_. I’m fine.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “A little tired… and stressed… and anxious… and tense… and thinking is hard… and… yeah.” She looked down and let out a quiet sigh before snapping her eyes back up to Conner with a strained smile. “But that’s normal for me. I’ll be fine.” She downed the rest of her double espresso with a wince. “Blaah. That tastes horrible. I wish I could taste the pie now to get that taste out of my mouth.”

He huffed at her annoyed by her refusal to take a nap. “If you want to know what it tastes like, take a bite. And if you’re tired, _go to bed_.”

“No! It has to cool down first. I’ll try it after I get back, along with sleeping.” She looked over at the clock and sighed. “Speaking of which, I need to get going or I’ll be late.” She took off her apron and turned to Conner with a stern expression. “And don’t let Wally eat it before I get back. I mean, don’t let anyone, but Wally’s probably the only one you have to worry about.”

“Fine. But you’re sleeping when you get home.” Conner stated firmly. She rolled her eyes at him and started moving toward the exit. Conner moved to intercept her, looking at her with softer eyes. “I’m serious, Chi. You need to sleep. You’re not thinking straight anymore. You almost forgot oven mitts when you got the pie out just now. You’ve been getting home really late and leaving really early for two weeks now.”

“Who knew you were a mother hen?” She smiled wanly at him. “You better watch it, I’ll tell the rest of the team. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Then I’ll tell them why, then _you’ll_ never hear the end of it.” He threatened with a smirk.

She looked up at him scoffed. “Pfft. Artemis won’t care. Kaldur will speak to me about the importance of sleep, but will trust me to know my own body. Robin will warn me about how dangerous it is to go into a fight without the proper amount of sleep and will keep an eye on me during our missions from now on, but other than that will not mention it. Wally is the only one that will be a problem, but I can buy him off with baked goods. You however, _you_ they’ll make fun of constantly.” She grinned smugly at him but her smile faltered when she saw the deeply concerned look in his eyes.

She sighed lightly and looked at him earnestly. “It will all be better next week, I promise. I just have to make it a few more days. Everyone I’m working with is in the same state. This is just a really rough time of year. We knew this was coming, that’s why I’ve been off missions the last week and a half and I’ll be off missions for another week. But once this week is over… It’ll be better. _I’ll_ be better. I’ll sleep. I promise. But right now, I need to go.” She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and left to change. 

Conner scowled at her but moved out of her way. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He yelled over his shoulder to her retreating back.

She closed the door to her room quickly and locked it behind her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her teammates, but accidents happen. If one of them got too excited or concerned and forgot to knock, her identity could be outed and she would have to leave. She looked longingly at her bed. She wished it was as simple as Conner made it seem. She would _love_ to take a nap, there just wasn’t enough time right now. It was Fashion Week starting in two days and they showed in three. There was no sleep for anyone in the fashion industry right now, and that included her. She sighed and looked away from the bed calling her like a siren with the possibility of beautiful, peaceful dreams. “Trixx, divide.”

Trixx did a few summersaults in the air and started searching around the room. Again, not that Marinette didn’t trust her teammates, but mind control was a thing and maybe, just maybe playing Among Us with the rest of the team had made her paranoid, so it had become common practice for Trixx to do a sweep of the room for any bugs before Marinette completed her detransformation. It was a ridiculous precaution and she felt stupid doing it and annoyed because it cost her time when she needed it, like now. But the overwhelming guilt she would feel for not doing her due diligence was far more threatening to her. But in moments like this, it played in her favor.

“Something is not right. Someone’s here.” Trixx whispered in her ear.

Marinette wasn’t sure if he was referring to her room or the cave, but either way, she needed to get out now. More importantly, almost the whole team was here. She needed to warn them now. “Eat now, as quickly as possible.” She mumbled under her breath, scanning the room, ready to fight if the infiltrator was hiding in her room. Trixx made her proud by eating his cookie in one bite. “Trixx, Kaalki, Unify.” She called out quietly. As soon as the light washed over her she grabbed a handful of treats for the kwamis, throwing them into her flute as she bolted from the room to find Conner.

She finally found him after only a few minutes. Conveniently, he was with Aqualad and Kid Flash as well. She ran at him and jumped into his arms. He stood stock still, unable to move due to the shock of the unexpected closeness. They touched… occasionally, but not like this. He was utterly unsure how to respond to this. Not that it was unwanted, he would love for them to do this more often, but this had come out of nowhere.

Kid Flash stood up and watched uncertain. He definitely wasn’t a fan of this, but knew enough to know something was going on. He scanned the room searching for an indication of the impetus for it.

Conner opened his mouth to ask Chimera what was wrong but she spoke before he could. She whispered quietly enough for just him to hear her. “Something is wrong. Someone is in the Cave. Someone who shouldn’t be. We need to get everyone out. Now. Without raising any suspicion in case they are watching.”

Conner’s eyes darkened to a dangerous glint and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. He whispered “Got it” quietly into her ear. He pulled away from her just slightly and looked to the others, “Chimera’s been stressed lately. I think a walk would help. You guys coming?” If anyone had been watching them that cover story would match with their earlier conversation and not set off any alarms. Hopefully, Chimera wouldn’t kick his ass too hard for outing that she had been stressed.

Kid Flash jumped forward, “That sounds fun. I’ll go. What are you stressed about? What can I do for you to help you? I mean… is there anything I can do to help?”

Chimera gave him a strained smile. “Sounds good. Aqualad?” She turned to him and gave him a pointed look, trying to communicate the secret to him with her eyes.

Aqualad gave her a questioning look and slowly nodded at her. “An outing sounds calming.”

She smiled anxiously at him. “Great, let’s go… now.” She immediately started speed walking backwards toward the exit, refusing to wait another second for all of them to get out of there and silently urging them to hurry as well. The rest of the Team only got a few steps before an explosion rocked the cave. 

Conner’s world went into slow motion as he watched the fire ball burst behind Chimera. Her hair fanned out around her head in what would have been a beautiful halo if it wasn’t due to the pressure of the explosion reaching her first. He watched in horror as she was lifted off her feet and thrown across the cave.

Conner raced over to her, kneeling down next to her. He pushed her hair out of her face to see how badly she was hit. He felt the back of her head to see if there was any identifiable damage there. She had no outward injuries but she wasn’t opening her eyes. “Chimera! Chimera come on. We’re not done yet. Chi!” He yelled at her. His heartrate rocketed even higher when she didn’t respond. 

They were under attack and Chimera was injured, unable to protect herself. He cursed under his breath and picked her up, holding her close to his chest to protect her if another attack came. He looked over to Aqualad and Kid Flash. They were in defensive positions already scanning the cave for threats.

“She knew someone was here. Did she say who?” Aqualad asked, darting his eyes around the cave.

“She felt something was off, but didn’t know what. She wanted us safe while we figured it out.” Conner answered, still focusing on Chimera, looking for any signs of her status and pulling her even closer to his chest when she didn’t give one.

“How is she doing?” Kid Flash asked looking around the cave for anything that might be a threat.

Conner looked back down at Chimera, willing her to wake up. As if in response to his desire, she groaned slightly and reached her free hand up to her head. “Chimera, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.” He reassured her in a strained voice. She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, closing her eyes and falling limp again. Conner opened his mouth to urge her to wake up again but never got the chance. A wall of water hit the team. The force of the water ripped Chimera out of his arms and pushed him in the opposite direction. 

<><><><><>

The room was hot. Not just hot, burning. It felt wrong… and blurry. How were things blurry when her eyes weren’t even open? Why was everything hot and fuzzy? Why did her lungs burn? Chimera groaned and tried to open her eyes. It was harder than she expected. It was like her body knew she didn’t really want to see the situation she was in, which just meant that she _really_ needed to open her eyes so she could deal with the situation, whatever it was.

Her eyes finally jumped open when she felt something move under her. She jumped only slightly, not nearly as much as she would normally, her body was still fighting her. She wanted to prepare to fight whatever was moving under her but her body wanted to continue resting. She cried out in pain and scrunched her eyes closed again as the effects of her movement hit her. She heard a scream that sounded vaguely like her name from somewhere far away but couldn’t manage to turn towards it. 

She fought to process what she had seen in the short time her eyes were open. Kaldur, she had seen Kaldur, and… orange? Fire? Why would there be fire? Maybe she was by a fireplace. She should move away from it, her mind hazily advised. She tried to move away from the heat, but it seemed like it was coming from all around her. She moaned in pain again at the effort’s effect on her body.

“…mera, can you …e?” She could hear someone talking, but they sounded… no wait, they sounded close? She tried opening her eyes again. But her body was still slow to respond. Maybe if she just opened one eye? That might work. She concentrated on opening one eye at a time. The images seemed to come to her on delay, or maybe it was her mind that was on some kind of 5 second delay. Kaldur filled up her vision.

He was touching her head gently. It felt wrong. Why was he doing that? She tried to scrunch her face in confusion but she wasn’t sure if her face was responding correctly. “Chimera? Can you hear me?”

Oh, that’s why he was touching her head. She had… something had happened. She was hurt. He was checking her. “Chimera! Can you create a portal?” 

She stared at him blankly. Why would she create a portal? That was what Pegasus did. She was… Chimera. She was Chimera, her mind hazily supplied for her. She wasn’t Ladybug anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could use her voice yet so she attempted to nod instead. Surely she could, right?

“You need to create a portal under us to somewhere safe. Can you send us somewhere safe?” He looked at her urgently. They must be in trouble.

She looked around, or at least tried to. “Superboy and Kid Flash are captured too, but safe for now. We need to get out so we can help them. Robin and Artemis are running around trying to fight the Reds, but if we can get away, we take some of their leverage.”

She looked blankly at him again. That probably made sense but thinking hurt right now. Her ability to process things logically was severely impaired, but Aqualad was their leader. She trusted him to think for her. “Somewhere _safe_ , Chimera.” He repeated.

She thought about the words. Safe. Somewhere safe. Not home though. Not with friends. She couldn’t compromise her identity. Somewhere safe Aqualad could see… “Chimera! I know it’s hard, but we need to move!” He urged her.

Safe…

Safe…

Safe…

“Voyage,” she whispered in a broken rasp.

She whimpered in pain again as she landed hard on Aqualad from their 6 foot drop onto a hard metallic floor. She wasn’t even sure where she had sent them and it was too bright to look around.

“Lower the lights!” Aqualad yelled to whoever was around. “Good job, Chimera. You brought us to the Watchtower.” He reassured her gently before turning away to yell again. “We need help in here!”

“Chimera, do you have enough strength to create an illusion of us so they won’t know we’re gone?” Aqualad asked gently. “I know you want to sleep and you can as soon as our teammates are safe. Chimera, I need you to try. Can you do it?”

She kept her eyes closed as she processed what he was asking. Could she create the illusion? What if she needed to create another portal? Would she have the strength? Could she take the time to transform? “Need to see where,” she croaked. She would detransform and retransform while they were getting the video set up. “Need to detransform. Secure. No cameras.”

Aqualad nodded at her, not that she could see it. “I need a secure room, now!” he yelled at whoever he was talking to. “And water or an IV.”

He picked her up and headed to a room she could use. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get see if we can communicate with Artemis and Robin.”

Chimera reached out for him and grunted to get his attention, talking seemed like so much effort. She grabbed her flute, took an earpiece and some of the treats out of it. She tossed the earpiece to him and set the treats on a nearby desk. He looked at her surprised. “Magic” she responded simply. She didn’t have the time or inclination to explain further.

Aqualad nodded to her and left the room. She gave Aqualad a few seconds to communicate with Robin before she detransformed, taking the earpiece with it. Kaalki popped out as soon as she detransformed and looked around the room unimpressed. “This facility is not befitting one as glorious as me.”

Without the second suit to help prop her up, Marinette’s legs gave out under her. She fought to stay conscious. The explosion she could handle, normally. She’d experienced far worse fighting akumas. However, wearing two miraculous was draining already, add to that all the stress she had been under in her civilian life, the little sleep she’d been getting the past two weeks, the explosion, the fire she had been sitting too close to, whatever had caused her lungs to burn, and using her powers before she was ready, and she was struggling to keep the push to oblivion, a long dreamless sleep, at bay.

But, her teammates needed her. Conner and Wally were still at the mercy of whoever had invaded their cave. “Hurry” she rasped out. Kaalki looked at her bored before seeing her state and snapping to attention, rapidly eating her sugar cube.

“Ready, Guardian.” She stated firmly.

Chimera didn’t even bother wasting energy nodding in response. She quietly whispered “Unify”. As soon as the transformation took effect, she felt a fresh wave of energy rush through her. Not a lot, but enough, she hoped. Enough to get through this. Enough to save her teammates. She pulled out her flute and played a melody. “Mirage” she mouthed. 

God, she hoped this would work. She had never tried a mirage from this distance and without any visual reference, but she was trusting her familiarity with the cave and the fact that she had just voyaged from that spot to ground the magic. It made sense right? Actually, nothing made sense right now. She was going to go on blind faith for this one.

She stumbled out of the room she was in and wandered toward where she thought Aqualad might be. She was sure he wouldn’t be too far. Once he spotted her, Aqualad rushed over to her side, assisting her to where he was talking with Superman. “Are you sure it is a good idea?” Aqualad asked in a tone that suggested he had asked this before and still hadn’t received a response he liked.

“Yes. We’re coordinating with Black Canary. We will both come in through the zeta tubes at the same time. Once there we will be able to fight the Reds. They will be entirely focused on us, giving Robin and Artemis the opportunity to free your friends.”

Chimera frowned at him. Her brain might not be working full speed yet, but she knew that was a bad idea. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew it was wrong, she just needed to figure out why. Superman turned when Black Canary appeared on a screen behind him. Chimera couldn’t follow their conversation. She was too focused on the screen next to it, showing Conner and Wally chin deep in water and two figures that looked similar to Red Tornado attacking Robin and Artemis and almost hitting Wally and Conner in their attacks.

Chimera gasped and grabbed Aqualad at the sight. He followed her line of sight and muttered under his breath, “They know we’re here. Robin set up a video for us.”

“We need to leave now.” Superman stated, moving toward the tubes.

“NO!” Chimera yelled with as much force as she could. As soon as the word came out of her mouth she faltered and fell back into Aqualad. “Robin patched in?” She asked Aqualad.

“Yes.”

She turned back to Superman. “Retribution. Punish them.” She said raspingly.

Superman glared at her. “We know our jobs, Chimera. We can handle them.”

“She’s right. We should trust Robin and Artemis to handle this.” Aqualad responded supporting his teammates. “We can coordinate with them and they can execute it.”

“We don’t have time to play games.” Superman chided them. “We need to act now.”

“Act wrong.” Chimera said quietly.

“With all due respect…” Superman started bringing himself to his full height before getting cut off by Batman.

“I agree with them. The Reds have shown they are willing to kill the Team. They have tried several times already. The only reason Superboy and Kid Flash are still alive is because they need them to draw out Artemis and Robin. Once it becomes clear they have lost that leverage, they will have no reason not to kill them and no reason to hold back. They could raze that entire cave and everything in it if they feel threatened. Robin and Artemis might be able to escape but Conner and Wally won’t be able to escape it.” Batman stated firmly.

“You don’t know that.” Superman retorted.

“You don’t know they won’t. You hope they won’t, but they have shown every indication that they will. We should work with Artemis and Robin to come up with a plan.” Batman argued.

“I think we have a way to do that,” Robin added. “If we can create an EMP emitter, we can short circuit them.”

Batman nodded at the suggestion, “That should work. Good thinking, Robin.”

“And you have one of those on hand?” Superman asked doubtfully. “We don’t.”

“No, but we can make one, right KF?” Robin answered with a smirk.

“Totally doable… ya know, if we had more time.” Kid Flash responded with a wince.

“How is Chimera?” Superboy called loudly enough for them to pick it up but quiet enough not to attract the Reds.

“She is weak but awake.” Aqualad reassured him.

The voices around her kept talking, but Chimera was having trouble keeping up with them. She slumped into Aqualad and let her teammates do what they needed to do. She focused on maintaining the mirage. After a minute she heard someone say ‘distraction’ and she perked up. She knocked her hand into Aqualad. “Illusion will disappear in a minute. Need to go back to the room.”

Aqualad nodded at her. “Chimera says she will make our illusion disappear in a minute, or on your mark if it’s sooner.”

There were more words but Chimera wasn’t listening, it took too much effort. She wasn’t sure if she could make it through detransforming without passing out, but her teammates weren’t safe yet. Conner wasn’t safe. She could and would stay awake. She set her jaw and looked up at Aqualad. He picked her up and carried her to the room. “I’ll let you know when to drop the illusion.” He said quietly.

She didn’t respond as he closed the door. She just needed to make it through the next few minutes. Just a few more minutes. She could do that. “Now, Chimera.” Aqualad called to her. 

Instead of calling off the illusion, she called off her transformation, serving both purposes and saving a tiny bit of energy. “Hurry,” she begged Trixx before he could complain. Trixx didn’t bother responding, he just ate the cookie Chimera had pointed out as quickly as he could. “Ready,” he announced in record time. She quickly called on her unification again and felt the energy surge through her. A few more minutes then she could sleep. 

She opened the door to find Aqualad waiting on her. He gave her a tight smile before picking her up again and carrying her to the screens. “Every little bit helps,” he affirmed.

She grabbed his arm again when she saw Robin laid out by the Reds. Superman said something to her but she couldn’t waste the energy to listen to what he had said. She was too focused on Conner and Wally.

“Artemis is still out there,” Aqualad reassured her. “Robin got close but got caught before he could complete…”

He was cut off by Chimera screaming “Voyage”. He turned back to the screens to see Artemis surrendering and the water rising over Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths. He couldn’t see where the portal she had created was at first, but then noticed the water draining slightly. He looked to the corner of the screen and saw a hole appear in the water. He looked over to Chimera to see her concentrating hard on the screen.

It wasn’t enough and Chimera knew it. The portal she had created wasn’t enough. The water was draining, but not fast enough. At this rate they were going to die. Conner was going to die. She clenched her hands into fists and touched them together in front of her then slowly pulled them apart, muscles straining like she was pulling elevator doors open. She groaned and her body started shaking under the strain of pushing the magic in ways it wasn’t intended.

Aqualad looked back to the screen and watched the portal expand slowly, mirroring her movements. The water started ebbing quickly and within a few seconds, Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths were above water again. The Reds snapped their heads to the portal, trying to figure out what had caused it. It was all the distraction Artemis needed to fire her arrow and complete the EMP emitter that Robin had started.

As soon as the arrow connected, completing the circuit, the video cut out and Chimera fell to the floor, breathing hard. Aqualad kneeled down next to her to check on her while Batman and Superman tried to raise the Cave. “You need to go to the infirmary.”

Chimera shook her head at him. “Imposter.” She rasped out.

“She thinks there’s an imposter here?” Batman asked.

Aqualad looked at her for a few moments before responding slowly as he figured out what she meant. “No, it’s a game. She means she doesn’t feel safe here.”

“This is the Watchtower. If there is anywhere safe to be, it is here.” Superman commented coolly.

“We thought that of the Cave.” Aqualad responded in the same tone.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary and stay with you.” Batman offered. “Superman and Aqualad, meet up with Black Canary and go to the Cave, free Superboy and Kid Flash. Check on them and see if we can figure out what happened. Aqualad, I will keep you updated on Chimera.”

Aqualad waited for Chimera to give him a nod indicating her agreement before he acquiesced as well. Batman stepped forward and pulled Chimera into a princess hold to carry her to the infirmary. 

“You’ll have to detransform so I can give you an IV, unless your suit can somehow become penetrable. But even so, I need to see how you are doing without the magic supporting you.” She looked around the room analytically. “I’ve turned off the cameras.” He reassured her. She nodded slowly at him and called off her fox transformation, allowing Trixx to make a pass around the room, confirming Batman’s statement. Once Trixx confirmed the room was safe and surveillance free, she dropped the last transformation, collapsing sideways on the bed as soon as she did.

He rolled her on her back and gave her a quick check over. “I’m going to give you some pain meds too, Marinette. I’m pretty sure it is mostly exhaustion and over exertion, but I want to be safe, you took a bad hit and a lot of strain on your body rescuing your team.” She nodded at him. “You should feel it pretty quickly.” She nodded absentmindedly again.

He waited a few minutes for the drugs to take effect. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I can see colors.” She slurred drunkenly.

“Between the exhaustion and drugs, you might be able to.” He smirked at her. He looked at her appraisingly morphing his face into a stern look. “If you’re going to stay on the Team, you need to figure out a balance.”

“Not my strong suit. I was supposed to be on vacation this week.” She tried to give him a pointed look but the effect was lessened by the slight blur in her words. “You promised a week off. This was not a week off.”

He smiled wanly at her. “No, it was not. But I meant you’ll have to find your limits. You saved your teammates, but you could have gotten yourself killed with that last stunt. You can’t do any good in the future if you kill yourself today.”

She stared at him as though she were trying to make sense of the words he was saying. “But I was fine. I did stay within my limits.”

“Barely. The mission is greater than one incident. If you’re going to last in this business, you’re going to have to sustain yourself.”

She glared at him, or at least she was trying to, she wasn’t sure if she actually was. She took a deep breath and gathered the rest of her strength and focus to respond to his chastising. “But still within them. How do I learn limits without pushing them? You say I can’t do any good if I don’t survive today, but neither can they if they don’t survive. And my teammates will always be my priority over the mission. I won’t let the mission become my priority. Ever. I trust my teammates. I will treat them as important and their input valuable, because it is. I will treat them as the family they are and make sure they know they deserve love and respect and have mine, that they are more important to me than a mission. I won’t ever become you. I won’t ever lose my heart. I won’t ever become the darkness to defeat the darkness.” She gave him a lightly repelled look before blinking a few times. “Oh,” she said softly as her eyes closed.

Batman watched her as she slept and patted her head with a bittersweet smile. “Good.”


	4. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the attack on the Cave by the Reds, Marinette and Conner have to deal with the emotional aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was a lot of action, this chapter is a lot of emotions.

Conner’s fists were clenched so tightly they were past white, verging on translucent. Everything about this day was terrible and it seemed to get worse with every passing hour. They had been invaded. Their home had sustained significant damage and was no longer safe. Red Tornado had betrayed them and the Justice League was cutting them out of the capture efforts. Chimera had been hurt, she had almost died and he hadn’t been able to do anything about it. 

It had been hours since they had received an update on Chimera and she was alone in the Watchtower. She was protected by the Justice League, but as they had just violently discovered, that didn’t mean she was safe. Although one saving grace was that by being here, she had been saved experiencing the attack by Red Tornado. From the description Aqualad had given on her status, he wasn’t sure she would have been able to survive it.

The Team needed to pull together right now. They were the only ones they could trust and Chimera had been isolated from them. The rest of the Team had been busy freeing themselves, checking each other for injury, working with the Justice League to assess the damage to the Cave, figuring out how the Reds got into the Cave in the first place, figuring out where their security had let them down, and recovering from Red Tornado’s attack. All of that meant that none of the Team had been able to be with her until now. Kid Flash, Robin, and he had finally been able to come and check on Chimera and bring her back to the Cave with the rest of them, while Artemis and Aqualad stayed in the Cave and tried to figure out what needed to be done next.

Batman met the Team at the doors to the infirmary. “I should warn you, I’ve given her quite a bit of pain medicine and I just woke her up for you so she could transform, so she’s a little out of it right now and honest… extremely honest. Beware.” Batman warned them wryly.

“Was she honest with you?” Robin asked with a smile. He would pay to have heard what an unfiltered Chimera would say.

“Yes.” Batman answered, not looking at him.

“Care to share?” Kid Flash asked with a grin.

“No.” Batman responded turning to peek through the door to assure she was fully transformed before letting them in.

They made it through the door just in time to see Chimera fall as she tried to stand. Kid Flash was there to catch her before she hit the ground. She looked at him slightly dazed, her movements sluggish. “I know you, right?” She concentrated harder on his face. “Right? We know each other.”

The Team gasped in fear and looked over to Batman for an explanation. Batman took a deep breath. “She needs rest. She doesn’t have a concussion, but her body has been through a lot. Combined with the pain killers, like I said before, she’s a little out of it. She should be fine after a rest.”

“No, it’s okay… it’s not… I just… I’m okay. I just need to sleep… or to wake up… I’m not sure which. This is… I’ve done this before… I think.” She slurred her words slightly as she tried to assure them. She looked at Kid Flash with a guilty expression. “I sometimes go too long without sleeping.”

Superboy moved over to her and picked her up, cradling her in his arms, holding her close enough to speak quietly to comfort her. “Hey Chi, it’s okay. We’ve got you. You know us. You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you. You can sleep.”

She leaned her head back to study his face. She smiled sleepily at him and ran her finger along his jaw. “I definitely know you.” Conner blushed deeply, but then balked at her next comment. “You’re the flirty one.”

Robin came over to double check for signs of the concussion that Batman must have missed. “Maybe she doesn’t recognize him after all.”

Chimera tried to turn over to him but stopped when she saw Kid Flash again. “No, wait… You’re the flirty one.” She tried to point in his direction.

“She may not recognize Superboy, but she definitely remembers Kid Flash.” Robin smirked.

Chimera looked back and forth between the two boys a little too quickly and groaned in pain. “You both are the flirty one.” She pushed her head against Conner’s chest trying to alleviate the pain in her head and stop the spinning.

Batman nodded to someone behind them and stepped forward. “Since you guys are here I’ll let you know now. Green Arrow and Black Canary have already discussed this with Aqualad and Artemis while you have been here. With Red Tornado… missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift.”

Superboy turned around to see a man larger than Batman walking toward them next to Superman. “I’m really looking forward to hanging with you guys.” Captain Marvel said with a smile.

Superboy scowled at them and adjusted Chimera slightly. She turned to face the newcomers. She quirked her head at Captain Marvel and concentrated on him for a few moments. “Who’s the kid?” Captain Marvel’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh no. Do I know you too? I’m sorry. It’s been a… day. Night? Day… I think.” She scrunched her face trying to figure out what general part of the day they were in.

“I’m not a kid!” Captain Marvel exclaimed a little too loudly.

Chimera snorted at him. “Whatever you say, kid.” She settled her head back on Superboy’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “It’s really bright in here.”

“We’re going home now, I promise.” Superboy said quietly. She hummed in response and curled into him a bit more.

“It’s going to be a short visit. I have a new mission for you.” Batman unceremoniously informed them.

“Chimera can’t go on a mission right now.” Superboy said lowly. “And I’m not leaving her alone in the Cave.”

“Someone will be there to watch over her.” Batman assured him.

Kid Flash scoffed and shared a dubious look with Robin and Superboy. “Another Justice League member? No, thanks.” Superboy argued.

“It’s normal to be paranoid after an experience like this. There’s a lot of new things you don’t know how to process yet. Perhaps if you let her stay here in the Watchtower, you can feel more secure.” Superman offered awkwardly. 

“It isn’t the Cave I don’t trust.” Conner narrowed his eyes at Superman.

“I understand wanting to keep her close. Your team means a lot to you and you guys weren’t able to keep her safe. It’s natural to overcorrect to overprotective and suspicious. But I can assure you she would be safe here.” Superman tried instead.

“Excuse me?” Kid Flash demanded angrily. Robin and Superboy scowled in anger next to him.

“You all assured us we would be safe in the Cave as well, and that Red Tornado was trustworthy. Your assurance doesn’t mean anything to us.” Superboy hissed at him.

“Black Canary will stay with her at the Cave while you guys are on the mission.” Batman assured him. “She trusted Black Canary with her identity. You should trust her too.”

“Did she trust her or did you tell Black Canary and Chimera had to accept it?” Robin asked skeptically.

“Regardless, she accepts it and trusts her. Her identity is more important to her than almost anything else. If she trusts Black Canary that much, you should too.” Batman answered coldly.

Superboy stared at him unsettled. His whole body tensing. They were trying to distract them from what was going on, from what they let happen. It had ripped the Team’s lives apart and the Justice League wasn’t going to let them react, was blaming them for allowing it to happen.

Chimera furrowed her brow sensing a shift in his body and temperament. She looked up at Superboy and followed his eye line. She blinked a few times at Superman before speaking. “Oh hey, it’s the Boy Scout.” She turned back to look at Superboy. “Look Conner, it’s the cold bastard.” She leaned her head back on Superboy’s shoulder before realizing what she said. She popped her head back up once she realized. “Oh my God! I remembered your name!” She smiled at him, proud of her accomplishment. “I usually can’t remember names until after I sleep.”

Kid Flash and Robin started laughing hysterically. She frowned at Kid Flash and tried vaguely to figure out where the rest of the laughter was coming from or was it just her ears playing tricks on her and figure out why he, or they, were laughing. They only stopped laughing when Batman walked next to Superman and glared at them. But the glare only reduced the laughter instead of eliminating it.

After a few moments Chimera’s eyes widened in mortification as she realized what she had said just after Conner’s name. “Boy Scout!” she exclaimed loudly looking at Superman apologetically, or trying to, and trying to sit up straighter in Superboy’s arms. “I meant to say the Boy Scout.” She cringed and tried to hide her face in Superboy’s neck, but still mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, “I mean, not that I was _wrong_. I just didn’t mean to say it _out loud_.”

She looked up again when she heard raucous laughter coming from all around her. She looked slowly from Superboy to Kid Flash to Batman to Superman to Robin. “Why are all the people I work with either incorrigible flirts or cold bastards?” she asked nobody in particular. “At some point that says something about me, doesn’t it? Is there something wrong with me?” She looked up to Superboy as she said the last part.

Superboy smirked at Superman and held Chimera tighter against his chest as he turned and made his way with the Team to the zeta tubes. She burrowed deeper into his arms and started to fall asleep to the rhythm of his walk. Just before she fell asleep he leaned down to whisper into her ear. “There is nothing wrong with you. Other than working yourself so hard that you forgot our names, you are absolutely perfect. You’re doing everything right. I’m proud of you.” She smiled peacefully as she fell asleep.

<><><><><>

“So this is where you are.” Chimera called out to Conner after she finally found him sitting on the rocks outside the Cave. He was staring out at the last bits of light reflecting off the ocean with an angry concentration. “I don’t think I would have found you without this little chiot’s help.” She smiled at the wolf and ran her hands through his fur. “I guess ‘little’ isn’t really accurate, is it? He’s bigger than me. How was the mission?” He grunted but kept looking out at the water. She gave him a concerned look and moved closer to him. “Conner?” She asked carefully.

“You shouldn’t have gone in to wherever it is you go. You’re still recovering. It was stupid, Chimera.” He growled at her, refusing to look at her. “Stupid and dangerous.”

She looked at him in surprise at his tone. “Ah.” She started delicately, looking around awkwardly trying to figure out if she should approach him or let him continue to brood alone. Brooding is best done alone, after all. 

She hadn’t gotten a report on the mission they had just returned from yet, so she wasn’t sure how bad it had been. She had rushed to find him as soon as she got back to the Cave after the showing and clean up. She had stayed for enough of the celebrations to satisfy her supervisors then rushed home. But it appeared that whatever did happen on the mission, it had taken a severe toll on Conner. He was in a significantly angrier mood than usual. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to sit alone, sit quietly with someone, or talk through the anger. 

“What do you think, mon petit chiot?” she whispered barely loudly enough to be heard over the tide washing in. “Stay or leave? What should I do?” Wolf whined and bumped gently into her. She smiled gently at him and patted him reassuringly. She turned back to Conner and approached him slowly like he might explode at any moment. She decided to see if he wanted to talk. If he didn’t, she could always back off. She started by trying to lighten the suffocating, dark mood. “Is it okay if I sit and glare at the sunset too?”

He sent her a devastating glare that caught her completely off guard. She stumbled back a half step in surprise, backing into Wolf. Conner stood up and stalked toward her as he roared in anger at her. “Why did you bother coming back to the Cave to recover with people you trust, people who can keep you safe while you recover, if you were just going to leave immediately? What is the point of helping you recover if you’re just going to go out immediately and make yourself worse? Run yourself into the ground… _again_? And what happens if we get attacked again? What happens if Red Tornado comes back and tries to finish the job his siblings started and you’re too tired to fight? Then you die, or we die trying to save you.”

She reeled back like he struck her, staring in shock at the seething mass of teenage boy in front of her. Wolf moved closer to her and angled himself so he was slightly in front of her, keeping his eyes on Conner. 

As soon as the words left his mouth, Conner wanted to take them back. The look of betrayal and hurt in her eyes was heartbreaking. She hadn’t even looked that betrayed when she found out Red Tornado actually did betray them. But now, at his words, she looked absolutely devastated.

Wolf nudged her lightly and whined quietly. The nudge was enough to wake Chimera out of her stupor. “Don’t. Do. That.” She scolded Conner suddenly, slapping his arms and chest punctuating each word. “You. Are. Large. And. Intimidating. And. You. Scared. Me. You. Big. Broody. Jerk.” She huffed at him with one final slap.

He made a show of protecting himself from the hits that were barely hard enough to even gain his attention regularly. He stared at her in shock, eyeing her cautiously, waiting for her to start up again. When he decided she was done, he frowned guiltily and looked over to Wolf, scratching behind his ears to reassure him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” he said quietly, darting his eyes over to her. The dejected frown she had didn’t suit her at all. He needed to figure out a way to put a smile back on her face. He watched her quietly for a few moments while they both pet Wolf. A smirk suddenly appeared on his face. “I just forget how small you are sometimes.”

She glared at him, “That is _not_ how you apologize!” 

He chuckled at the pout she sent him. “Sorry.” He repeated more seriously this time.

She pet Wolf as well for a few moments. “What is his name? We haven’t been properly introduced yet.” Her tone was still guarded, but soft.

“Wolf. It’s okay that I brought him home, isn’t it?” he suddenly realized he hadn’t asked her before bringing a new and massive creature into the home they shared. “I should have asked before… but I thought you were sleeping.” There was a sharper edge to his last comment.

She looked at him with a touch of guilt. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’ve always wanted a pet but I was never allowed to have one before.” She answered quietly. She looked down and pet Wolf quietly for a few moments, giving her anxiety something to focus on. After a few moments she spoke up again, “I had to go today. This is…”

“Yeah, yeah, an important time of year. You said that already.” He grumbled, glaring at Wolf’s fur as he pet it. He didn’t want to look in her eyes and see the betrayed look again, but he also couldn’t stop from reprimanding her. “You’re hurt. You could have died in that attack. You can skip a few days while you heal from _almost dying_ , Chi.” He finally looked up to shoot a glare at Chimera who seemed to wilt under his glare. “You didn’t even come home at all last night. We got here this morning to check on you, to make sure you were okay, and you were gone.” Wolf whimpered quietly at him and nudged against him. Conner looked over to Wolf for a moment and frowned in annoyance at his interruption. He looked over to Chimera and sighed at the conflicted, guilt-stricken look on her face.

“… the reason I can be here. I couldn’t skip today. Today was the culmination of months of work, not just mine. I skip, I not only lose out on seeing everything come together, I let down that team, and I get fired. I get fired, I go home. I go home, I’m not only no longer part of the Team, I’ve lost my career. The only reason I haven’t been fired already for missing two days ago is because Batman somehow talked Bruce Wayne into calling my boss and vouching for me personally and promising to appear at… and promising to give them some Wayne Enterprises support. Apparently, it took promising to get Oliver Queen to agree to… to promise Queen Industries support as well in order to get them not to fire me.” She said defiantly but tears she refused to shed were still lining her eyes. She subconsciously leaned into Wolf for support.

Conner huffed and looked down at his feet. “It’s not worth your life.” He grumbled. He wasn’t trying to make her feel worse but she needed to stop, to pull back, to heal. She had pushed herself too hard because of them, for them. And she was still pushing herself. She was going to push herself into a grave because of him. He couldn’t save her during the attack and clearly, he couldn’t save her from this either.

She followed his lead and looked down for a few moments as well trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. She absentmindedly pet Wolf as she processed what was happening. He wasn’t mad at her, not really. She knew that. He wasn’t mad, he was scared. But it still hurt and that was worse. Things were spiraling out of his control and he needed something he could rely on. She was only making things worse by having to leave. She was hurting the Team by not being able to devote her full attention. She was hurting _him_ by splitting her focus. She had stayed in the Cave so she could help him, give him someone who was there for him, but she wasn’t and she was hurting him instead.

“I’m sorry I scared you. I wasn’t risking my life. It’s chaotic, yes, but it’s a chaos I understand. It’s a chaos that soothes me. I know my place in that chaos. But it’s over now. I have the rest of the week off and I can stay in bed and relax. Not even school.” She gave him a strained smile. “I’m sorry it was making things worse for you. I’m sorry _I’m_ making things worse for you.” Damn it, she berated herself. That wasn’t what she wanted to say. This wasn’t about her. It was about him.

Conner’s heart dropped. Damn it, he berated himself. He made her think she was hurting him. That wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was making it about himself, but it wasn’t about him. It was about her. He reached out to comfort her but hesitated. He didn’t know how welcome it would be. After yelling at her just a minute ago, she might not feel comfortable with him hugging her. He winced internally thinking about how he treated her as soon as he saw her tonight. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I didn’t have the right to… I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was angry with you. Like you were doing something wrong. You’re not. I mean, I do think you push yourself too hard, but you’re not making things worse. You make them better. You’re amazing.” He blushed when he realized what he said and grasped for something to change the topic. “I mean the way you talked to Superman was amazing.”

Chimera barked out a laugh and hid her face in her hands in embarrassment. “I can’t believe I called Superman and Batman cold bastards. Well, Superman more than Batman. I’m sure Batman has heard it lots of times before… and I’m pretty sure I said more devastating things before I fell asleep in the infirmary. But, it was probably new information for Superman.”

Conner hummed in agreement. He sat down and leaned back against the cliff, looking out to the ocean, not wanting to discuss Superman anymore, despite him being the one to bring it up in the first place. Chimera sat on the ground next to him, stretching out her legs and watching the tide wet the sand in front of her. She burst out laughing when Wolf laid on her legs. “Conner! Help me!” she managed to squeak out between laughter. “I can’t move.” Conner laughed and gave Wolf a gentle shove to get him to move. Wolf made a dissatisfied grunt but moved off of her and next to Conner.

They looked out to the ocean in a contented silence, watching the last bits of light glitter on the distant waves. After a while Chimera spoke up, still keeping her eyes on the water. “Did you know Kaldur and I had to stop Superman from making the entire situation worse? He wanted to rush into the Cave with no idea what to do then. Like his very presence would be enough to end it. All brawn and no plan. Idiot.” She scoffed. “Luckily, Batman backed us up or he would have rushed in and gotten you killed.”

Conner scowled and growled. “He blamed us for what happened, like we didn’t react the way we should have, like I _let_ it happen, and the whole time he would have made it worse.” He balled his hands into fists, his hands shaking in anger. He turned to punch the cliff side then did it again and again.

“Conner!” Chimera gently touched his arm, careful to stay out of the punch arc. He turned to her with wild, angry eyes that softened as soon as he saw her. “Please stop. You’re going to hurt your hand or cause a rockslide.”

He hung his head with a huff and sat back down. “You’re lecturing _me_ about doing things that hurt myself now?”

She shrugged taking his hand to examine it for injury. “I guess there’s a reason we get along so well. We can keep each other’s self-destructive tendencies in check.”

Chimera sat close enough that their bodies were touching, still holding his hand, running her thumb over his knuckles to soothe them. After a few minutes she bumped her shoulder into his. “You know, if you ever want to talk, I’m here. I have a few other good friends with terrible… authority figures in their lives. Authorities that barely acknowledge them let alone give them the respect and love they deserve.”

He considered her words for a while, keeping his eyes on the horizon. “Must be nice for you… having _authority figures_ that support you and don’t critique every move you make as a hero.” He said bitterly. 

She scoffed. “I’d hardly call Batman supportive. Plus, I’m pretty sure I told him I thought turning out like him was a fate worse than death. So he’s probably even less likely to be supportive now.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Interesting. But I meant your parents.”

“Oh.” Her smile faltered and she let go of his hand as she looked away and hummed in agreement. 

“Chimera?” He prompted her. He squeezed his now free hand. It felt strange on its own.

“Yes?” She asked innocently.

“If you want me to talk, you have to too.” He gave her a pointed look.

She scowled playfully at him and looked back out to the ocean. “I don’t like your rules.” He chuckled at her and stayed quiet, allowing her to get her thoughts in order. “My parents are extremely supportive of me. Extremely.” She started tentatively.

“But…” He urged her.

“But they don’t know… about this.” She sighed. “They don’t know I’m a hero. They don’t know I fight villains. Nobody can know, remember? That includes parents.”

“Your parents don’t know?” He furrowed his brow at the thought of her parents somehow not noticing her missing during crises and not having anyone to support her. “Where do they think you go?” He looked at her incredulously.

“They don’t. They think I’m in my room, or hiding during attacks. Right now they think I’m at an internship in America, which I am, that’s why I can’t always be here, that and school, but...” She turned away with a guilty look. “God, I hate lying to them.”

He furrowed his brow and frowned at her. “So who supports you?”

She smiled up at him with a coy glint in her eyes, like he had fallen into a trap. “My team did, as much as they could without knowing my identity. That’s what teams are for, supporting each other, helping each other. You’re on my team, so I’m here to support you, if you want.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and looked away. “I see what you did there.” He looked out over the water again, watching the tide ebbing and flowing. “I was right there with you… all, the Team, and let you get captured. I couldn’t save you or the team. I wasn’t good enough to. I’m not good enough. What am I even doing here?” 

“Hey,” she chided him gently, “Wally didn’t save me either. Do you think he’s not good enough? That he doesn’t belong here? Kaldur didn’t save me. He helped me but he didn’t stop it either. Is he not good enough to be here? Do only Artemis and Robin deserve to be here?”

“No,” he grumbled.

“You need to give yourself a break. You are amazing. You can do amazing things. But we’re a team. We rely on each other sometimes.” She gave him a soft smile. “Sometimes you have to just let us save you and not take that as a fault.”

He turned away, blushing slightly. After a few moments in silence he punched the ground in front of him. “What does it matter? He’s never going to accept me or treat me as an equal anyway.”

She paused while she thought about it. “I think he will. He’s scared and unsure right now but he will eventually get over himself. But however long it takes, it’s on him. It is a sign of his inability to process his emotions in a healthy way. It has absolutely nothing to do with your worth or skills. It says nothing about your value.”

“That’s not how it seems.” He grumbled into the sand.

“Yeah. I get that.” She nodded in agreement. “The downside of being the offspring of an idiot.”

He laughed at that and leaned in conspiratorially. “I believe the official term is ‘cold bastard’.”

She groaned and hid her face in his shoulder. She turned her head to rest it on his shoulder and look out at the crests of the waves in the moonlight. “What people say about us can affect us. It can hurt, especially family because we’re supposed to have a stronger connection to them than anyone else. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t know you better than we do. He doesn’t have better insights. He isn’t your family. We are. And we say you are more than enough. You are amazing.” She hugged his arm.

“You’re my family?” Look at her hesitantly.

“Found Family, baby. One of the best tropes.” She grinned widely at him.

“Tropes?” He looked at her questioningly.

“Found family, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, and they were roommates. All good.” She nodded with a smile. “I highly recommend them… well maybe not to you. But to other members of our family.”

Conner slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. “I like this family.” He gave a small smile as he leaned his head on hers. He frowned suddenly when a thought occurred to him. “But, found family rules aren’t the same as regular family are they? Because I don’t think… _Wally_ wouldn’t appreciate that.”

Chimera giggled at the thought. “No, no he wouldn’t. How long do you think before he and Artemis start dating?”

“You think they’ll date?” He pulled back and looked at her like she was crazy. “They hate each other.”

“Oh God, yes they will. That tension has nowhere to go but on a date. I give it a month.” She laughed. Her laughter quieted after a few moments and she moved further into Conner’s embrace. “Found family is about loving and supporting each other no matter what. Understanding we all have problems and helping each other deal with them and loving each other in spite of them. You can definitely date within a group that offers you that.” She confirmed, circling back to his original question. “Most people do.” She added quietly.

He looked at her softly and laid his head back on hers watching the stars twinkle on the ocean surface like a distant, enticing dream. “Good to know.”


	5. Kobayashi Maru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aliens have invaded Earth taking out the entire Justice League. The Team is Earth's last defense and must defend against the aliens who seem to be undefeatable.

“Why are you wearing that thing?” Conner teased Chimera with a playful lilt to his voice and pointing to her pink apron. She had wanted to make some treats for the team and roped him into helping her despite his objections. Apparently, sitting and watching Wolf attempt to play with Sphere wasn’t considered an adequate way to spend his morning.

Chimera raised an eyebrow at him. “To keep clean. Things can get messy when you’re baking.”

“Just don’t get dirty.” Conner responded easily. He leaned over to her with a mischievous look, “Bake better.”

Chimera gasped in fake offense and glared at him as she finished pouring the flour into the mixing bowl. “Whatever, oh kitchen guru.” She moved to get the buttermilk and looked over at him with a slightly too innocent expression. “Hey, can you turn on the blender for me, please?”

Conner grinned smugly from his apparent win and moved to the mixer to turn it on. He accidentally switched it to the highest level. He wasn’t able to move before a wave of flour flew out of the bowl and coated him in a thick coat of white. He fumbled for the off switch before turning toward Chimera with a questioning look. She doubled over in laughter as soon as she saw him. He groaned and started trying to shake and brush off the flour, but that just seemed to make it worse, spreading it further and pushing it into his shirt and pants. Chimera was now gasping for breath from laughing so hard until she fell on her butt, making her laugh harder. “That… that’s… that’s why I wear an apron,” she choked out.

“You…” Conner stared incredulously at her. “You did that on purpose.”

“No. I would never.” She tried to defend herself, but the wicked look in her eyes and the way she was biting her lip trying not to laugh as she leaned against the lower kitchen cabinets, gave her away.

“Is that so,” Conner asked, the mischievous glint back in his eye as he picked up the mixing bowl.

Chimera’s eyes widened as she realized his intention. “No, no, no. Conner.” She held up her hand in a placating gesture and tried backing away from him but she was already pressed against the cabinets so there was nowhere to go. Conner threw the contents of the bowl at her with a roguish grin. She squealed loudly as the ingredients hit her legs and her forearms that were protecting her head. “Conner!” she chastised him with no heat in her tone. “I cannot believe you just did that.”

“Then you’re really not going to believe this,” he grinned as he picked up the bowl of sugar they hadn’t added yet and threw that at her too.

Chimera was barely able to dodge out of the way in time and grabbed the container of baking powder and flicked it toward him. He just dodged it but the baking powder was just a distraction from the cocoa powder she threw at him next. The cocoa powder caught him in the neck and hair, the impact spreading it to his face and shirt. He recovered quickly and searched for something else to throw, coughing slightly from the cocoa powder that hung in the air.

“Okay, okay. Truce!” Chimera yelled holding her hands out placating. “The only ingredients left are wet ingredients and I really, really don’t want to clean that up. Truce?” She eyed him suspiciously, the same way he eyed her. He reached his hand out to her but his body was guarded in case she tried to go back on her word. Chimera tentatively reached out her hand as well, suspecting a counter strike, but their hands met without incident. They smiled at each other breathlessly.

Chimera pulled Conner into a hug and Conner wrapped his arms around her just as tight until he felt something granular sliding down his shirt. He looked at Chimera and groaned. She was shaking her hair out on his shoulder causing the sugar that had caught in her hair to fall on him as well. Chimera laughed even harder, her face turning red in the process. Conner laughed too in spite of himself.

After Chimera had calmed down a few minutes later, she surveyed the damage around them and glanced over to Conner. “Okay, do you want to help me redo this and we can clean together while it’s in the oven or do you want to clean while I bake?”

Conner surveyed the kitchen as he considered his options. “I’ll clean. It’s probably safer that way.” He sent her a mock glare that she laughed off. 

Chimera hummed as she remixed the ingredients for the chocolate cupcakes. She was enjoying the moments of normalcy and lightness between missions. Things were just starting to settle down again into a routine after the last few weeks had rocked the Team to their core. She needed this reprieve and she was confident that Conner did too after everything that happened.

After the cakes were out of the oven and the kitchen had been cleaned with only themselves left to clean off, they grinned at each other. “I’ll frost those tonight after they’ve cooled. We both should probably get moving.” She smiled at him as she headed out of the kitchen. “Probably should take a shower first though.”

He smiled as he looked down at his clothes and raised an eyebrow at her. “And whose fault was that?”

She looked back at him with wide eyes, the perfect picture of innocence. “You could have just not gotten dirty, right? So… yours.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled back brightly. Conner fought it, he really did, but he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up and the chuckle from working its way out. “We’ll settle this later.” He waved at her as she left, his eyes following her until she was out of sight.

<><><><><>

The team watched in shock as Artemis’ body disappeared in a flash of light. That was… less than optimal. “Everyone get in the ship!” Aqualad called to them as he whipped out his water bearers to destroy the downed ship that had just eliminated their teammate.

As soon as the ship was destroyed, Aqualad joined Superboy, Robin, and Wally on the ship. “We need to rethink our approach to this. I still think a plan is needed, but going against them even as a sneak attack cost us Artemis and Wolf. There has to be a different way to address this.” Aqualad stated calmly.

“Head on didn’t work and sneak attack hasn’t seemed to work better.” Kid Flash added in the same academic tone as one would considering a word puzzle.

“Back to the Cave to regroup?” Robin asked from the ship’s controls.

“No, to the Hall of Justice. We need to consider the effect this is having on the people here as well. The people need to know there are still heroes out there.” Aqualad responded flippantly, keeping his focus on the horizon. His mind was still running through possible approaches. What had worked, what had failed, what they hadn’t tried, what had the most success and might work if it was reworked.

Suddenly Kid Flash gasped and pounded his fist on the ship’s controls. “Artemis is dead!” He jumped up. “They killed Artemis. Artemis died right in front of us.”

Aqualad put his hand on Kid Flash’s shoulder. “Her sacrifice will not be in vain. We will avenge her.”

“I’m going to kill every last one of them.” Kid Flash vowed looking out to the skies, searching for any he could shoot.

“Has anyone heard from Chimera?” Conner asked, his eyes suddenly looking frantic.

“No, she hasn’t contacted the Cave since the aliens attacked.” Aqualad confirmed.

“Robin, check the communication in and out of the Cave. See if there is a message from Chi in there.” Superboy commanded anxiously.

Robin connected to the Cave. “Nothing at the Cave. I’m checking the Hall of Justice right now.” He kept searching but his eyes were getting more and more worried as he did. “Nothing… there’s nothing. The Hall’s communication networks have been destroyed so we wouldn’t know even if she had tried.”

Aqualad placed his hand on Superboy’s shoulder, just as he had for Kid Flash. “I’m sorry.”

Superboy jerked away like he had been burned. “No. We don’t know that anything happened to her. She could be fine. There were no reports that she was killed.”

“That’s right.” Robin encouraged him. “We’ll keep fighting to find her. The quicker we end this attack, the quicker we can find her.” Aqualad grimaced at Robin who responded with a dark look of his own. “We’re coming up on DC. It looks like we’re not the only ones.” He said indicating the alien ships that were heading toward the Capitol Building. 

“Let’s destroy these bastards.” Kid Flash growled already aiming the weapons systems on the closest one.

“We can’t shoot them all. Superboy, you think you can take one on your own?” Aqualad asked, keeping his eyes on the screen and formulating a plan.

Superboy gave him a feral grin. “Absolutely.”

“Good. We sneak up on them, drop Conner on the closest one then start moving onto the next and work our way through. Once they’re all taken care of we start working with the army to combine forces and assess our assets.”

Conner took a deep breath, bracing himself for his next move. They had already lost the entire Justice League, Wolf was dead, Artemis was dead, and nobody had heard from Chimera. He didn’t want to think she was dead, but… the odds were not in her favor. But she was magic and had already survived attacks he didn’t think anyone could survive. And she was a strategist. If anyone could come up with a plan for her and for them, it was her.

“Ready?” Robin called out to him.

“Just give me the sign. I’ll take them out.” Superboy turned back to the hatch below with a determined stare.

“Opening the hatch. I’ll count you down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Jump!” Robin called out.

Superboy jumped and landed directly on the alien ship with enough force to create a massive dent in the ship. He ripped off the canon and began punching the ship as hard and rapidly as he could manage. He was too laser focused to notice the Team’s ship firing on the ship that came up behind his, destroying that ship, leaving three more ships. The Team’s ship started firing on the next ship, bringing the other ships’ attention to them. 

Conner whipped around to assess the situation. His ship wasn’t completely destroyed yet, but disabled. If he could jump on another, he could disable that as well, making it easier for the Team’s ship to destroy them. Before the ships could start firing, a portal opened immediately in front of one of the ships. The ship flew in and suddenly the next ship over exploded and the two ships crashed, followed almost immediately by the third ship exploding from the Team’s fire.

Superboy’s ship glided down, crashing on the National Mall, skidding to a stop just in front of it. Superboy jumped just before it came to a stop, landing in a crouch in front of the army forces stationed in front of the Capitol Building, the Team’s ship landing just behind him. Superboy looked up to the army and stopped short, his breath catching in his chest.

Standing in front of the army forces was Chimera, standing tall, a little disheveled, a bit bloody, but standing and smiling brilliantly at Superboy. Superboy’s eyes lit up and he started running to her. Chimera jumped in his arms, laughing heartily in relief. Superboy hugged her tight, spinning her around in his excitement to see her. Chimera looked down to brush the nonexistent hair out of his face, cupping his face in the process, her grin growing impossibly bigger as she did. Superboy’s eyes were crinkling from the large smile spreading on his face that only got larger as Chimera leaned down to touch her lips to his.

Her lips were soft and yielding and everything he had been dreaming they would be... not that he had been dreaming about her... he just... had been... repeatedly. The kiss was exactly everything he had dreamed it would be. It filled him with warmth and comfort at the same time, making his heart race.

They broke apart, gasping for breath after what felt like no time at all and forever at the same time. Chimera smiled sappily at him, not letting him move his face too far from hers. “I don’t want to wait until the next world ending event to do that again.”

Conner looked back at her with desire and shook his head. “I don’t want to wait at all.” He whispers heartily, capturing her lips and letting the emotion sweep over him again. The kiss was hungrier than the first, more assured in their mutual desire. A reprieve from the devastation and loss. A dream in the middle of a nightmare. 

They broke apart when they heard someone clearing their throats. “She’s kissing Superman.” “That’s not Superman. He’s too young. And where’s the cape?” 

“He’s better. He’s Superboy.” Chimera responded without sparing the interrupter a glance, keeping her eyes on Superboy’s. 

He twined his hand into her hair, gently setting her down to cup her face with his other hand and keeping her close. He pulled away slightly, still touching her, not willing to give up on that reassurance that she was still there, that she was alive and by his side. “So this is where you go to” he said with a smirk but eyes still showing how relieved he was to see her.

“Guess my secret is out,” she smiled at him, cupping her hands over his. “I’m glad you finally know. I hated keeping it from you.”

Conner rested his forehead on hers and let out a deep shuttering breath. “We thought you were dead. Don’t ever do that again.”

Chimera squeezed her eyes shut and nuzzled her face into his hands. “The zeta tubes I knew about were down and I was fighting here. I couldn’t abandon them.”

Kid Flash broke free from Robin’s grip and stalked over to them. “So this is where you have been this whole time. We could have used your help. We were fighting alone. Artemis was fighting alone.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to Artemis.” She looked at him with guilt and compassion in her eyes. “I wish I could have been there for you, for my Team.”

Kid Flash moved so he was only a few inches from her face. “But you weren’t. And now Artemis is dead.” He growled at her.

A guilty, hurt look spread across Chimera’s face and she backed away from Kid Flash, seeming to shrink at his censure. Superboy moved in front of her, pushing Kid Flash away. “That’s enough. She was saving civilians. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. What happened to Artemis isn’t anyone’s fault but the aliens’.”

Aqualad walked up to them and placed a hand on Kid Flash’s shoulder. “He’s right. Circumstances were extreme. We are a team. We need to start acting like it and focus on taking down the aliens, not each other.” 

Kid Flash glared at Chimera before looking away. He knew, he _knew_ it wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t stop a part of his brain from blaming her. But, blaming her wouldn’t help the situation. It wouldn’t bring Artemis back. They needed to stop the aliens before they killed more people and they needed her for that. “So what’s our next step?”

Aqualad looked over the wreckage formulating a plan, and trying to keep his anger in check. “We’ll salvage as many of the alien’s cannons as possible.” His face morphed as his anger took over. “Then we take back what is ours.”

<><><><><>

The Hall of Justice didn’t offer any particular insights, just a sense of familiarity and fleeting safety in their decidedly unsafe and insecure position. It wasn’t the Cave, it wasn’t their home, but it was a symbol of hope to people around the world and had been to them. And hope was something they all needed more of today.

Aqualad sat with the army general talking tactics while the other army men watched the perimeter and tried to take a second to themselves. Kid Flash and Robin were running tests on the alien cannons to learn more about them. A look of frustration and concentration set on Kid Flash’s face. They were going to figure this out. They needed to avenge Artemis and their mentors. Robin watched the results of one test come in and launched into the next test with calm and determined eyes, his mouth set in a thin line, the very picture of traught. He would deal with the emotions later. Right now, the priority had to be their analysis. They needed to figure out how to defeat the aliens or they were all going to die. There was no time for emotions right now.

Superboy and Chimera stood sentry at the main entrance, no longer holding hands now that the initial wave of relief had passed and they were on a mission, but standing close enough that Superboy could feel the heat from her body. Both had their eyes trained on the skies, but he occasionally darted his eyes to her just to reassure himself that she was there. “I’m sorry about Wolf.” She said quietly, eyes still on the sky.

Superboy’s eyes moved to her for longer, focusing on her. He could see the sorrow in her eyes as she said it, even though she refused to take her eyes off the skies for even a moment. Every bit the professional as he expected from her, pushing away her emotions until the mission was over. But too worried and grieved for him to wait to say something. “He died protecting me.” Superboy grumbled looking back to the sky. He wouldn’t cry. There had been so much death and destruction. It was ridiculous to cry over one pet.

Chimera nodded solemnly. “That’s what you do for the people you love, you risk your life for them. Sometimes you lose it for them.” Superboy could see the tears trying to escape that she held tight to. “And he loved you.”

Superboy opened his mouth to say something too fast, too deep, something he knew she wasn’t ready to hear, but before he could Kid Flash yelled out saving him from himself. “Guys! Look what I found! Look at this!”

The Team along with General Eiling moved over to him. “What did you find?” Aqualad asked, unmoved by Kid Flash’s excitement.

“Zeta-beam radiation!” Kid Flash exclaimed excitedly. “The cannons have zeta-beam radiation! The same as our zeta tubes.” He was nearly bouncing with excitement. “They aren’t disintegration beams, they are teleporting beams. Do you know what that means?” He grabbed Chimera by her shoulders to make sure she was entirely focused on him, the one person on the Team who could match his levels of excitement. The one person who could mutually indulge in extreme emotions. His smile was so big and bright, it almost brought hope back to the structure all on its own. “They’re alive. They aren’t killing people, they’re taking them hostage! We can save them.”

Chimera smiled widely at him. “We can save Artemis.” Kid Flash started giggling with happiness as he nodded at her words, hugging her tight. The hug he gave her turned into a dive for cover when the building was rocked with an explosion, Chimera covering his body with hers. As soon as the rocking stopped, the Team and soldiers popped their heads up assessing the situation. “We’re surrounded, sir.” One of the soldiers at the entrance reported. “At least twelve ships out there, sir.” Another soldier called back. 

“There’s no way to make it to our ship,” Robin commented.

“We need to move to the Zeta tubes. Robin, I need you to run ahead and hack the system to get authorization for the soldiers.” Aqualad called over to him as he wrapped one of the soldiers’ arms over his shoulders.

“On it,” Robin calls already running toward the zeta tubes. By the time the rest of the Team, each supporting at least one soldier, got to the room he had the system hacked and was already scanning soldiers. They all braced themselves and jumped out of the way of falling chunks of ceiling as more explosions rocked the building. 

Superboy searched out Chimera after the latest particularly bad explosion, breathing a sigh of relief when he found her standing unharmed near the zeta tube. “That one sounded like it came from the inside.” He reported loudly.

“They appear to have breached the perimeter. They will be here soon. We need to move.” Aqualad stated gravely. “Chimera, you go through first and signal us if it is safe.”

“What? No! You don’t know what you’re sending her into,” Superboy objected.

Aqualad shook his head. “Chimera has a nearly indestructible suit. If there is something on the other side, she will be best equipped to withstand it.” He nodded to Chimera to signal her to move. 

Chimera nodded back and gave Superboy a weak smile. “See you on the other side.” Superboy nodded back. He would see her. They would see each other and he would kiss her again. He watched as Chimera disappeared through the zeta tube, holding his breath until they heard a signal come through to Robin. 

“She’s okay. She says it’s safe.” Robin reported. Superboy let out the breath he had been holding.

“Everyone start moving.” Aqualad commanded. “Soldiers first.”

“No,” General Eiling countermanded. “We cannot risk losing more heroes. You go first.” Aqualad squared up against him ready to argue. “We don’t have time to argue. This is non-negotiable. You. Go. First.”

Aqualad grunted in displeasure but nodded. “Kid Flash, you go through next, Robin, you next, followed by Superboy. I’ll go next, followed by the army soldiers. Time is a factor. Move quickly.” Kid Flash looked between them, but moved to the tube quickly. Robin frowned at Aqualad, but moved to the tube to wait his turn. 

The Team and the soldiers in the room waited impatiently for their turns to make it through the zeta tube. It didn’t take long for each person to go through, but they didn’t have time to wait. They could hear the explosions and the destruction nearing them quicker than they had. It went against their natures to just stand by and do nothing, but there was nothing to do, not until the room was breached. 

Robin had just made it through the tube when there was a flash of blinding light and everything seemed to freeze for a few moments before returning to normal. Aqualad and Superboy shook their heads in confusion, the light having done something to their heads, causing momentary confusion. When they looked back up, the door to their stronghold had been blown apart and the aliens were entering in droves. The room erupted into a cacophony of yells, screams, weapons’ fire, and fighting. “Superboy, get in the tube.” Aqualad yelled to him as he attacked an alien.

Superboy opened his mouth to object but quickly dived out of the way of an oncoming shot. “Now!” Aqualad yelled again. Superboy moved quickly to the tube, keeping an eye on the aliens as he waited for the tube to recognize him and shoot him with the zeta beam energy. He gasped as an alien aimed at him. It was a race between the zeta beam energy and the alien’s weapon. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the hit that never came. 

When he opened his eyes he saw Chimera’s grinning face. He exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. He pulled away just enough to kiss her again, weaving his hand into her hair to pull her closer.

“The tube is down.” Robin reported gravely from his position at the zeta tube controls. The rest of the Team turned to him in question. “The Hall of Justice tube entrance is not responding. Likely destroyed. We should not expect survivors.”

Kid Flash and Chimera gasped at the declaration. Chimera buried her face in Superboy’s chest. He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. He pulled her closer and rested his head on hers, trying to whisper comforting words, but there were none. There was no comfort in this situation. The only comfort he had found in this entire situation was her, so he hugged her closer like the symbol of hope she was to him.


	6. Nobody Wins in a No-Win Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining members of the Team come up with a plan to defeat the aliens. But winning doesn't always feel like winning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've seen the episode or know what Chapter 5's title means, you have an idea of what is going to happen. For the rest... sorry.

“The most likely place for the hostages is on the mothership. We need to get in there to free them.” Robin stated in a detached, authoritative voice. “We’ll take a zeta tube nearby then have Superboy distract them so the rest of us can sneak on. We find the victims and use Chimera’s portal to free them and KF’s speed to get them out. Chimera can cast an illusion to cover us getting out as well. We need to save her powers for then. We’ll need you to cover us while we free the victims, Superboy.” The rest of the Team nodded at him, understanding their roles. “Now, you need to grab something to eat and rest. We leave in an hour.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice to eat.” Kid Flash gave him an excited smile. He jumped bumping into Superboy excitedly and throwing his arm over his shoulder as they made their way out of the room. “We’re going to rescue her, all of them.” Superboy smiled back at him before turning to Chimera. She smiled but motioned with her head for him to go ahead. She moved over to the console Robin was studying to finalize his plans. As soon as the door closed, leaving only them in the room, she quietly asked, “Are you ready for this?”

He hesitated for a moment but continued examining the images of the mothership. “Since I was nine.” He answered solemnly.

A wry smile spread on her face, “Well, you’ve got me beat. Eleven for me.”

They stood in silence for a few moments, pretending to focus on the mothership. “Are you ready?” He asked her.

She nodded, eyes still directed toward the screens. “I just need to wish Conner good luck.”

Robin looked down and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

Chimera looked over to him with a strained smile. “It’s what our lives were always leading to, isn’t it? What we’ve been preparing for since we were little kids? One way or another it was always going to end like this.” They looked at each other for a few moments before Chimera reached over to hug him. “But, I’m glad I got to meet you.”

Robin hugged her back tightly, “Me too.” She patted his back and pulled away, moving to the door to follow the others. “Wally doesn’t know.” He spoke up suddenly. “Should I… should I tell him?”

She turned her head in his direction without fully facing him. “Neither does Conner. And they can’t know. We can’t tell them. Nothing we say will change what has to happen. They can be happier longer if we don’t.” Robin nodded to the confirmation of his thoughts and turned back to the screen.

Superboy was just finishing his sandwich when Chimera walked in. She smiled as soon as he saw her and walked immediately over to him. He hugged her tight, grounding himself by holding her. “I’m worried about you doing this.” She whispered.

“I have to do it. It’s what Superman would do.” He brushed her bangs behind her ear and cupped her face. “I’ll be okay. I have too much to live for.” He reassured her.

She smiled at him and leaned into his hand. “You don’t have to do what Superman would do. You’re just as good, better to me.”

He preened at her praise, but he couldn’t give in. He had to do this for them, for her. He had to do everything he could to protect them and give them the chance to save the hostages. And even if he didn’t survive, at least he would have saved her. Because that’s what you do for the people you love. “But I do have to do this.”

She pushed up to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Their lips slid against each other’s in a magical sensation that electrified his body. After a few minutes she pulled away slightly, pressing her forehead to his. “When this is all over, I want to show you who I am.” She whispered.

He pulled away with a look of surprise. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, looking up at him with her big, beautiful, blue eyes under her lashes. “I don’t want any more secrets. I want us to be able to be completely open with each other.” 

Superboy smiled brightly at her and hugged her even tighter. “I have even more to live for then. I can’t wait to fully meet you.”

“Am I included in this? I’d like to fully meet you too.” Kid Flash grinned at them as he leaned against the counter, drinking from his mug.

Superboy threw a dish towel at him that Kid Flash dodged with a laugh. “Get out of here, Wally.” He growled at him.

“We all need to get out of here.” Robin interrupted. “It’s time to go.”

“It hasn’t been an hour,” Kid Flash whined.

“The sooner we get moving, the sooner we rescue the hostages and the fewer hostages there are to rescue.” Robin reminded him.

“Right.” Kid Flash agreed, sobering quickly. “Let’s go get our girl and our friends.”

<><><><><>

Superboy peeked around the corner of the building they were hiding in, taking note of the guard ships and turrets. He turned back to his teammates with a grim look of determination. “Everyone ready?”

Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other before turning to Superboy with mirrored looked of determination and nodded. Chimera pushed up to give him a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll see you on the other side.” She whispered quietly.

Superboy cupped her face. “Yes you will. We’re not done yet.” He smiled and kissed her again. He took a deep breath and jumped onto the mothership, destroying the first turret. He dodged a shot and jumped to the next turret, ripping it from the ship and throwing it at the third turret, destroying it in the process as well. He dodged a volley of incoming shots and jumped to the final turret. He pushed it to fire on one of the ships approaching him. The ship exploded in a mass of fire and light. 

While Superboy was causing a destructive distraction, Kid Flash carried Robin and Chimera into the ship. Just as Robin had expected, his speed was affected with the extra weight but only slightly, not enough for the aliens to discover them. Luckily for Kid Flash, Chimera felt as light as a feather to him. Kid Flash stopped and dropped them behind a support beam, using it as cover while Robin scanned the ship, searching for the survivors and gaining a schematic for it. Kid Flash and Chimera kept watch for aliens. They spotted a ship heading toward them and pulled Robin further behind the beam in the hopes the ship would miss them. They braced themselves for the worst before feeling the blowback from the ship exploding. 

Kid Flash and Chimera looked up and saw Superboy standing next to the turret and looking down at them with concern. Chimera smiled appreciatively and yelled “Focus.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he yelled back with a grin, turning back toward the aliens. But he turned back a moment too late. Kid Flash and Chimera watched as Superboy’s body disintegrated in front of their eyes.

“Superboy!” Chimera screamed out.

Kid Flash grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against the wall before any alien ships could see them. “It’s okay. We’ll rescue him when we rescue the rest of them.” He reassured her confidently.

Chimera looked him in the eyes and nodded resolutely. “Right. Let’s go get our boy.”

As soon as they made it back to Robin, he checked over Chimera. “You okay?”

Chimera straightened up and nodded. “I’m totally whelmed. Let’s finish this.” She pushed past them moving toward the core of the ship.

“Wait, do you know where the hostages are?” Kid Flash asked uncertain, following behind her.

“I’m not getting any readings of any humans on this ship,” Robin reported gravely. “They weren’t taken hostage, they were killed. The only thing left is to destroy the ship. We need to get to the core of the ship and set off the bombs.”

Kid Flash looked at him in shock. “You knew,” he whispered hoarsely. “This was your plan all along.” He turned to Chimera. “And you? Did you know?”

She looked away from his eyes and paused as if unsure what to say. “There was always a chance. We need to move now before they find us again.” 

Kid Flash’s eyes hardened. “We are going to talk about this when we get out of here.” He growled at them before storming ahead, down the hallway. Robin looked over to Chimera giving her a dark look that she returned. 

They finally found their way to the core and looked around in awe. “Where do we start?” Kid Flash asked, eyes wide from taking in the massive expanse before them. There were multiple levels with platforms reaching out part of the way into the space and no apparent connection between the platforms and no rails along the edges.

Robin examined the scans again and pointed to a platform above them. Before they could start formulating a plan to get to the platform, there was a blinding light, disorienting them. When the light disappeared, the floor under them started tilting like there had been an explosion nearby. The platform tilted and they started sliding toward the edge. Kid Flash grabbed Robin’s outstretched hand and tried to grab Chimera’s but missed her. Robin shot his grappling hook, trying to find leverage on something but all the edges were too smooth and couldn’t catch on anything. 

Robin and Kid Flash looked around as they fell trying to formulate any plan they could with the available resources, which were none. Suddenly, there was another bright flash of light and they found themselves on the platform they needed to be on. They both shook their heads trying to shake the momentary confusion that had struck them both. “Chi must have portaled us here,” Kid Flash offered uncertainly. They looked around frantically, searching for Chimera. Kid Flash ran to the edge of the platform, looking for where Chimera landed but didn’t see her or her body anywhere.

“Let’s get these set.” Robin said calmly, pulling the explosives off his bandolier.

“She’s… she’s dead.” Kid Flash breathed out disbelievingly.

“Let’s set these before more people join her.” Robin responded without looking up.

Kid Flash set his mouth in a determined line and nodded to him helping set up the bombs. When they were in place and the timer set, they looked at each other with a resolved look and turned to look out at the ship’s core again, not bothering to search for a way out. Kid Flash had finally come to the same realization Robin had come to before the missions started. They weren’t making it out of this.

Robin closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable and jumped when he felt something hit him. But the blow wasn’t followed by pain or heat of an explosion. Curious, he opened his eyes to see a portal in front of him. He turned to Kid Flash with a confused look. They closed their eyes and walked through.

When Robin opened his eyes again, he saw the very much intact ceiling of the Cave. He looked around confused about where he was. He was laying down. Why was he laying down? He sat up and looked around to find Kaldur, Wally, and Conner also sitting up with confused expressions on their faces.

“Conner! Wally! Kaldur! Robin! You guys are okay!” Chimera yelled gratefully. She was crying grateful tears as she moved from one to the other, checking their eyes and reassuring herself they were okay. She checked Robin over twice before she moved onto Conner, who she examined a bit longer than the rest, her hands lingered on his shoulders. Conner stared at her unsure how to respond, confused by the change of reality.

Robin looked a bit further and saw Batman supporting a weak looking Martian Manhunter. Standing next to them, Artemis looking at them with a concerned frown. “How are you guys feeling?”

Robin grabbed his head trying to still the whirling thoughts and dual realities struggling for dominance, wiping away the sweat that was dripping from his forehead. “What happened?”

“The exercise… it all went wrong.” Martian Manhunter answered, holding his head.

“Exercise?” Robin asked uncertainly.

Batman stepped forward. “Try to remember. What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the five of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn’t know was it was a train for failure exercise.” Chimera gasped and pulled back from her position in front of Conner, a look of horror in her eyes. “No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still you were aware _nothing_ was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League.”

“How… how bad did it get?” Chimera asked tentatively.

“Apocalypse,” Kaldur whispered out, his eyes glazed over from the memory. “It was an apocalyptic event. Billions dead. We… we couldn’t stop them.” Chimera’s heart clenched and she pulled away even further.

“But you were supposed to know it was an exercise. And at first, you did. That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf and Artemis were disintegrated in front of your eyes.” Martian Manhunter added. “But all that changed when…”

“It was my fault.” Chimera interrupted, looking down and refusing to meet any of their eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself. The guilt of what she can only imagine she put them through was eating at her. It was a no-win scenario. Everything they did was destined to fail. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how outside of the box they thought, no matter whether they asked for help or didn’t, they were going to fail. Going into it, they would have been able to take the loss in stride, ego bruised, nothing more, but…

“My…” she hesitated searching for the right way to explain what happened without exposing too much. “… _powers_ got bored and noticed the illusion Martian Manhunter was casting. H… They…It wanted to help and make it more realistic and…” she shook her head. “I wasn’t watching them. I should have watched them. I shouldn’t have lost control. I’m so sorry.” She finished miserably. She had already lived through a real life no-win scenario. She still hadn’t fully recovered from it. If her team had gone through _anything_ like that because of her...

Conner jumped up to pull her into a hug. He burrowed his face into her hair. “It’s not your fault. The exercise must have seemed real to you and you reacted. Part of being involved is that you lose some control. It isn’t your fault.”

Chimera pulled away from him shaking her head desperately. “I wasn’t though. I wasn’t part of the exercise for exactly that reason. I can’t lose control and I did anyway.”

Conner dropped his arms from around her waist. “You… you weren’t in the exercise?”

“But, we saw you there. You were in it.” Kaldur stated still trying to make sense of what happened.

“It wasn’t her. It was a construction of her you created. You noticed your teammate was not there and hadn’t been among those who died, so you added her to the illusion.” Martian Manhunter supplemented.

“It wasn’t you.” Conner repeated breathlessly. His eyes unfocused and his heartrate picked up. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t her he had been kissing. It wasn’t her that admitted to wanting to be with him. It wasn’t her that said she didn’t want any more secrets between them.

Chimera shook her head and looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. “Did I… did I do something bad in the illusion?”

“No,” Kid Flash answered quickly. “No, you were very helpful. That explains why you used the word ‘whelmed’ though. That must have been when Robin was controlling illusion you.” He tried to joke to lighten the mood.

Robin looked through her, facing her but not seeing her, reconsidering their interactions. Finally he nodded, a look of muted horror in his eyes. “You told us what we wanted to hear, what we needed to hear to keep going… to do what we thought we needed to do. But that was just us. We made ourselves to what we did.” He looked away, guilt melding with the horror in his eyes. Chimera stared at him letting what he said settle in her head… ‘What they needed to do’… what had they ‘needed’ to do?

Chimera examined Conner, noting that he refused to look at her and recoiled from her touch. She pulled away further, almost fully against the wall. Her breathing picked up as the weight of what they must have gone through and the guilt for what she let happen started taking over. Artemis rushed over to her. “It wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could as soon as you found out and we didn’t know what kind of exercise it was. We did everything we could.”

“You should have stopped the exercise.” Wally added angrily, turning on Martian Manhunter.

“I tried, but I couldn’t overpower Chimera’s power. Her power made the illusion feel real to you and to me and gave you the power to take over most of the elements of the simulation. You should have woken up after you died, like Artemis did. But you all believed you had died so you slipped into a coma.”

“You thought you were dead?” Chimera gasped horrified.

“Not all of us,” Robin said quietly. 

Instead of calming her, it made Chimera more frantic, knowing she had caused them to believe that. She looked at each of them one at a time, figuring out who had died from their refusal to look at her and choked back a sob. “I’m so sorry guys. I’m so, so sorry. I… I’ll… I can make something for you to eat! Some comfort food… or I can grab some blankets… Oh! Movie night! I can… we can have a movie night.” She rambled, frantically searching for some way to comfort them. “I’ll start on some food.”

She backed away from them and rushed to the kitchen to make… she didn’t know what, but she needed to do something. Something to help her Team. Something to make it up to them. Something to keep them from spiraling into anger and frustration and resentment. Something to keep them from doubting themselves and each other, from focusing on the guilt from what they had ‘needed to do’. She had been down this road. She had seen what experiencing that kind of absolute desolation could do, the extremes it could push someone to. 

The first time she’d seen it, it destroyed the world and her brother. The last time she’d seen it, she saw what she could do if she ever let go of her control, if she ever let herself go there, if she ever believed there were no options left. She shuddered at the thought, another wave of guilt rolling over her. She had been able to reverse all the damage, erase all evidence it had ever happened, but she couldn’t erase the effects on herself.

Going through something like that, even if you reverse the damage, even if you find out it wasn’t real, knowing what you are capable of and what you’re not, never really leaves you. She still hadn’t recovered. It was why she was here. It was why Batman wanted her here. She wasn’t going to just sit by and watch her Team go through that alone.

She spotted the cupcakes she and Conner had baked earlier that morning and decided to make the frosting to finish it. Maybe she could make some cookies too. Those would be easy to pop into their mouths without thinking. Maybe some pain au chocolat? She quickly pulled out the ingredients and started up the mixer. She kept herself busy so she wouldn’t be able to think. She didn’t want to think and baking was something she could do without thinking. Time could pass in the blink of an eye when she was baking. 

Before she knew it, she was pulling another tray of cookies out of the oven and replacing it with the last tray. She looked around the kitchen in a bit of a panic. She couldn’t be done already. There had to be more. She spotted the naked cupcakes and remembered she still had to frost them. She grabbed the bowl of frosting she had made earlier and started stirring it to soften it again. She leaned against the counter as she stirred. She stared absentmindedly, forgetting to block her thoughts. 

She stared at the Cave wall opposite her. The stark, lifeless, desolate wall. No indication of life existing but bearing the marks of fires and explosions that had reached it when the Reds attacked. More explosions and fire flashed in her mind, screaming, shouting, begging so loud she couldn’t hear anything else. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. That wasn’t real, it wasn’t happening. She heard whimpering and her heart started pounding, her breath became ragged. “No, no, no,” she mumbled to herself, her tears falling freely. 

She heard an alarm ring next to her and she let out a yelp in surprise and dropped the bowl she was holding. She looked around frantically, realizing she was alone and safe in the Cave. The alarm sounded again and she recognized it as the oven timer. She hastily wiped her tears and grabbed the cookies out of the oven.

She took a steadying breath, trying to calm her rapid breathing. She knelt down to pick up the pieces of broken bowl, reaching out for the pieces with shaking hands. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and lashed out to punch the attacker. Conner deflected her blow, laying his hand on her arm gently. He knelt next to her and reached out to her but hesitated and pulled his hand back. He didn’t know if his comfort would be wanted. That was a lie. He knew it wasn’t welcome. The Chimera whispering sweet words to him, pulling him in for kisses, and seeking comfort from him was an illusion. Those was his desires, not hers. But he couldn’t just sit back and watch her cry without doing something. He still had to try to help. “I heard the bowl break. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said cautiously, trying to respect her boundaries.

She watched him pull back from the corner of her eye and that made it all feel so much worse. He was now flinching away from her. He must blame her for what happened, even if he didn’t do it consciously, he must associate her with the exercise and the pain it caused. The tears fell harder. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t…” She looked up at him and tried to wipe away the concern and guilt dripping from her eyes. “How are you? Are you okay?”

He stared at her for a few seconds unsure how to respond. He wasn’t sure how he felt, he just knew he wasn’t happy and that definitely wasn’t what she needed to hear. He hadn’t processed everything that happened and didn’t want to. He just wanted to forget the whole miserable, euphoric, fictional experience. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t get the images out of his head or the feelings. He had felt needed. He had felt important and now he was back to who he was before, nobody special, especially not to her. “I’m fine,” he growled out instead. “How are you?”

She winced at his tone and pulled away from him, feeling his anger and believing it was aimed toward her. She looked away from him, focusing on the ground between them. “I’m fine,” she said quietly.

Conner stared at her incredulously. She clearly wasn’t fine. Normally, when she had a problem she would open up to him, eventually tell him what she was feeling. He didn’t have to say anything, just letting her talk was enough, which was good because he never knew what to say. Comforting words were her thing. Action was his. Talking it out seemed to help her, but she was holding back now. Why was she holding back? He couldn’t help her if she held back. “You’re not,” he was close to yelling at her.

“Well, neither are you,” she yelled back at him.

He scrunched up his face in anger and frustration. He wanted to comfort her and comfort himself by holding her and burying his head in her neck. Ground himself in her embrace, let her scent relax him. But he couldn’t touch her anymore, not like he did in the exercise. He couldn’t hug her and he definitely couldn’t kiss her anymore. He didn’t know how to comfort her without touching her. He didn’t know how to calm himself without feeling her touch. He clenched his fists, focusing on not yelling at her again. “I’m going to bed.” He ground out between clenched teeth as he turned around quickly and left her alone.

Chimera collapsed back against the lower cabinets with her knees pulled up to her chin. She dropped her head onto her knees and started crying harder. She felt a pressure against her knees and a very familiar whining sound next to her. She looked up and saw Wolf nudging her to let him lay his head in her lap. She huffed out a bitter laugh and patted him a few times before pulling her knees closer to her chest.

<><><><><>

Sleep was not a good idea for him tonight. Every time Conner closed his eyes he saw aliens or Chimera smiling at him before his mind reminded him that neither of those were real. He tossed and turned for hours. Wolf should have been by his side by now trying to cuddle with him to comfort him. Well into the night, closer to sunrise than sunset, he grunted and finally got up to see where Wolf had wandered off to… and maybe grab a few of the cookies Chimera had made. His chest tightened at the reminder of seeing her while making them. He lost his breath remembering how he had reacted to her. He could never seem to find the right words for her.

He finally found Wolf outside Chimera’s door. “Wolf!” he chastised him in a whispered shout. “Leave her door alone. We’re not allowed in there.” Wolf whined at him and turned back to the door scratching at it. Conner let out a long sigh and moved to pull him away. He put his hand on her door, pretending she could feel it, wishing she could feel his contrition. He started to turn away before he heard muffled cries coming from her room. His heartrate skyrocketed in a matter of seconds. “Chi!” He pounded on the door. “Chi! Are you okay?”

The sounds went away and there was nothing but silence again. He was beginning to believe he imagined the whole thing but Wolf was still nosing at the crack between the door and the doorjamb with a whine. He hadn’t imagined it. Something was going on. “Chi?” He pounded on the door again.

He raised his fist to pound again when the door opened. Chimera was standing in front of him rubbing her sleepy, red, puffy eyes. “Hey, Conner. What’s going on?”

He looked at her with an overwhelming sense of concern and grabbed her pulling her to him in a tight hug before he could overthink it and talk himself out of it. He buried his head in her hair and felt the tension leave his body as her body relaxed and hugged him back, holding onto him like a lifeline. They only pulled away from each other when Wolf started whining and nosing between them to be included. Chimera smiled down at him and started petting him.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, I know you like to keep your room off limits, but Wolf was scratching at the door and when I came to get him I heard screams.” Conner said cautiously, keeping his arm around her waist.

Chimera kept her focus on Wolf. “Oh,” she said quietly. “It’s nothing.” She looked up at him with a fake smile. “How about you? Couldn’t sleep? I can make you some hot chocolate or calming tea.”

He looked at her skeptically, but didn’t want to push her. “Sure,” he nodded cautiously.

“Right,” she agreed quietly, curling into his side as they walked to the kitchen. “So, hot chocolate or tea?” she asked pulling away to start grabbing ingredients.

“Hot chocolate,” he answered evenly, observing her as she moved. She worked in silent, jittery movements, refusing to look at him.

Once the hot chocolate was made and they had both been sitting for a few minutes in silence, Conner decided to finally broach the subject. “So… you going to tell me what that was about?” Conner asked staring at his hot chocolate.

Chimera jumped at the sudden conversation, almost spilling her hot chocolate. She glanced up at him for a second noting his rigid posture, his tense eyes, his pursed lips. She glanced away quickly and curled in on herself again. “It was nothing. I’m fine.”

Conner groaned and shoved away from the counter rounding on her. “Stop lying. You’re not fine,” he yelled.

“I’m better than whatever you had to go through and I’m not going to sit here and complain to _you_ about how the experience _you_ had to go through, affected _me_.” She yelled back at him. “And stop yelling at me, you big, lumbering oaf!”

He huffed and turned back to his cup. “Sorry,” he grumbled into his cup. After a few more sips he spoke up again. “I wasn’t that affected by it. I’m fine.”

Chimera scoffed at him. “Stop lying. You’re not fine,” she parroted back to him.

He glared at her for a few moments before turning away. “I don’t know how I feel and I didn’t want to make it worse for you,” he grumbled.

“Oh no, getting screamed at was much better,” she snorted. She looked down at her hands for a few moments and when she finally spoke up again her voice was timid and shaky. “I didn’t know it was a train for failure exercise. I didn’t know that’s what you were going through until Batman said it. I… I could have done more. I should have done more to pull you out sooner. I tried.” She looked over to him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I did try, but right after the first time, something happened to Kaldur and… and I was worried about what the strain would do to you guys. I thought letting it play out would lessen the damage. And I thought it was just a regular exercise so I… I didn’t know the toll it was taking on you. After the same thing happened to you that happened to Kaldur even without my intervention, I figured it was the simulation, not my intervention and I was finally able to stop it after a few tries.” She wiped away the tears that started falling. “I should have tried harder sooner. I’m sorry.”

Conner sighed and pulled her into a hug, because they were friends damn it. They hugged before the simulation and they would keep doing it. It just wouldn’t mean what it had in the simulation. It wouldn’t mean what he wanted it to mean. He would just have to learn to stuff that electric feeling he felt whenever he touched her, deep down and lock it away. “You made the best choices you could with the information you had. And, it didn’t affect me that badly.”

Chimera pulled away from him to look him in the eyes again, a frantic look in her eyes. “You thought you died!” she cried out.

“And I was okay with that,” he cried out just as loudly. He sighed and looked out across the common area. “And I was okay with that because it meant I helped. It meant I sacrificed myself to save you… all of you. It was something only I could do. I was needed. Not like now.”

“You’re already needed, Conner. We all need you. The Team can’t function without you. We never would have survived Yellowstone or Bwunda without you.” She looked at him sincerely. “And I need you to know how important you are to me. How much of a difference you make to me. I…” she looked around for she didn’t know what, inspiration maybe. Conner looked at her with hopeful eyes. Her eyes settled back on him. “I… I’ve been through a lot… _a lot_. And having someone around to support me, to understand me, to call me out on things, that’s what I need to recover.”

Conner deflated at the words. “That’s nothing special. Anyone could do that.”

“It is special and no they can’t. It wasn’t something I was getting before I came here. It isn’t something Superman could do. I need people I can trust to be there for me, people I understand and I know understand me. Superman doesn’t and couldn’t. My parents don’t. My friends don’t… well one kind of can, but he’s going through so much himself…” she looked away at the memory before turning back to him with pleading eyes. “But you do. You talk to me, you interact with me in a way that hits me, that gets through all the anxiety, fear, and doubt. Not everyone can do that, almost nobody. I need _you_ … and our other teammates,” she added on quickly, blushing slightly at the words she was saying. “You, all of you, are special to me and more important to me than the Justice League. You’re my Team, not just because we were assigned to each other, but because we fit together.”

Conner stared at her speechlessly, breathlessly. She needed him. She had said it. He helped her in a way nobody else could. But in the same breath reminded him she was a teammate. And as she had said time and time again, she doesn’t date teammates. But she needed him. She needed her teammate and if he was being honest with himself, he needed her too. It wasn’t the way he wanted to be needed, but he was needed. He pulled her into a hug, and rested his head on hers and sighed. “Found family, right?” He swallowed down the bitter taste the words left on his tongue.

She smiled and hugged him tighter, slowing down her rapidly beating heart. “Right. Found Family.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself or him.

He nodded and flicked his eyes over to the television. “How about that movie night?”

She pulled away and gave him a small smile. “That sounds good.”


	7. Say the Magic Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chimera and Robin talk about the simulation and a tiny bit about the events that preceded Chimera joining the Team. Chimera and Conner have a moment that is interrupted by world wide disappearances.

Very introspective because Dick seemed like the most effected after the simulation and he needs support too. Also, … sorry…

Chimera almost missed him. He was sitting so far back between the library stacks, if she hadn’t been looking for him, she wouldn’t have seen him at all. She approached him slowly like she was afraid to spook him. “Hey, Robin. Mind if I join you?”

He shrugged and motioned to the spot next to him. Chimera gave him a small smile and sat on the floor next to him, leaning against the wall quietly. She sat there silently for a few minutes before finally speaking up. “I… um… I know you like chocolate and I made these. I thought you might like some.” She held up a plate of chocolate macarons. “You don’t have to of course… There’s no pressure or anything… I just thought… um… that you might… ah… like it?” Chimera stuttered out. Thank god she was holding a plate while she talked otherwise her hands would have been fidgeting constantly.

Robin examined the macarons. “Are those chocolate macarons?”

Chimera nodded. “Chocolate macarons with different fillings. There’s dark chocolate ganache, orange ganache, hazelnut, peanut butter,” she made a face at that filling, making Robin chuckle lightly, “vanilla buttercream, and milk chocolate ganache. I didn’t know which you would like, so I made a variety.”

“Which one is which?” Robin asked staring at them in wonder and trying not to drool. “Actually, I don’t care. I’ll eat them all.” He looked over to her quickly, “I mean… um… want to share?” He asked with a strained smile.

Chimera giggled at him. “No, thank you. I’ve had a few already. You are welcome to these. There’s more in the kitchen too.” She leaned a bit closer to Robin to whisper, “I hid about half of them so Wally won’t be able to eat all of them when he finds out I made some.”

Robin stuffed the first macaron in his mouth and moaned in pleasure. “Chi, these are amazing.”

She smiled brightly at him. “Which one was that?” She looked at the plate to try to figure it out.

“I don’t even know and I don’t care. I just want more.” Robin groaned out.

“I can’t make more if I don’t know which ones it was,” Chimera giggled again and leaned back against the wall. Robin ate a few more before he leaned back next to her. “Thanks, Chi. I’m going to save the rest for later, but these made my day.”

Chimera smiled gently. “No problem. How are you doing?”

Robin shrugged. “I’m fine.” He said with a fake smile and unable to make eye contact with her.

“I’m sorry again about the exercise. I know… I know how badly situations like that can hurt, even if the physical effects aren’t real or lasting. How they can leave invisible, gaping wounds. If you want to talk about it, I’m here.” She offered sincerity and concern flowing through her words.

Robin leaned his head back against the wall staring at nothing in the distance. “Do you know what it’s like?”

“Yeah,” she sighed out staring at the same distant nothing, “in real life. It seems like it should make it worse than the simulation, but I don’t know that it does.”

Robin’s eyes snapped to her. “What did you do?”

“Died,” she stated it unemotionally. It was the only way she could think of it now. If she didn’t detach herself from the emotion, it still overtook her. She still broke down over it if she allowed herself to, still had nightmares, which had come back in fierce form after the simulation.

“What?” Robin asked incredulously.

She looked over to match his eyes. “I died,” she reiterated calmly. “That’s what I did. Along with almost all of my team and a couple million other people.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “You look awfully alive for someone who died.”

“I got better.” She smiled wryly at him. 

“How?” he asked seriously, completely missing the reference.

She chuckled bitterly. “Magic. It can do amazing things… when it isn’t doing terrible things.” She returned her focus to the distant nothing staying silent for a few moments. “I took my brother and my boyfriend with me. I… they didn’t know. I did. I knew at least I wasn’t going to make it and my brother almost certainly wasn’t going to… I wasn’t wrong. My brother thought we would.” She smiled bitter sweetly. “He has always been so optimistic. My boyfriend at the time was suspicious but didn’t say anything. He trusted me to tell him what he needed to know. I didn’t warn him that he was going to watch me die in front of him, let our villain kill me…” 

She looked away pensively. “And I would do it again, every time, because we finally defeated our enemy, the man who had tormented millions of people for years, because of it… no, I would tell my brother. I would change that, but the rest…” she trailed off thinking about the incident. “We broke up after that.”

Robin nodded thoughtfully. “I thought you didn’t date teammates.”

“I don’t… anymore. The results are always catastrophic. Literally… globally. Every time.” She made an explosion motion with her hands, “Boom.”

“How many times?”

“Twice… once… it depends on the timeline. Time streams get complicated.” She shook her head trying not to think about it. “Either way, it was too much. I learned better. The price is too high.” 

He looked off to the distant nothing again doubts and guilt settling back into his bones. Chimera watched his eyes change as they did. “The thing about experiences like that is they force you to learn things about yourself.”

“I learned I don’t want to be Batman,” he whispered quietly. His whole body was tensed like he was waiting for a lecture or an attack.

Chimera nodded and looked at the distant nothing. “Sometimes it tells you what you don’t want to become. They can be a warning, a harbinger of the future. She looked over to him with sympathetic eyes. “What you do with that information is up to you.”

“Why didn’t you tell them?” His eyes were huge and pleading as he asked, looking for something close to absolution.

“I didn’t want to kill that part of my brother, that hope that defines him… I didn’t want to watch it die in his eyes. And I knew my boyfriend wouldn’t let me do what I needed to do.” She looked at the distant nothing. “And I was afraid. I was a coward and they suffered for it.”

“I’ve been trained for years to replace Batman, but… the lengths I was willing to go to... I led you, Wally, and Conner to our deaths. You knew… they didn’t. You told me not to tell them, but that was just me saying that. That was my decision. It was all me. They didn’t know and I led them there anyway. I used their optimism against them. I manipulated them to their deaths.” Tears started creeping out as he remembered what he had done.

“I think that means you have to break up with them.” She tried to joke with a strained smile that he didn’t return. A serious look settled on her face. “Sometimes being a leader means doing things you don’t want to. Things that destroy you. But you take the hit for your team. Sometimes, that means letting them take the hit for you and that’s… always worse.” She took a deep, shuttering breath, letting it out slowly. 

“I don’t have any real words of wisdom here. I did basically the exact same thing and I… I still can’t put on my…” she caught herself and clamped her mouth shut thinking about what to say. “I still can’t use the _powers_ I had always used up until that fight. I just can’t. The thought of it makes me hyperventilate and my heart start racing.” She took a few moments for her heart and breathing to slow down.

After a few moments she turned to him with a shaky smile. “But here is what I do know; there are different kinds of leaders. The world doesn’t need another Batman. You have more to offer than that. You’re smart, you’re strategic, and you’re good, so good and so young. You’ll only get better. But the best thing about you is your heart. You take pleasure in the small things and try to bring everyone around you up. I think a hero like that has so much to offer,” she looked him in the eye, trying to make sure he heard what she was saying down to his soul, “and I’d rather have a hero like that as a teammate and leader than Batman. In or out of the mask.”

Robin stared at her in shock, unable to process everything she had just told him. When her words finally penetrated the haze, he lurched forward to give her a hug. She let out a small squeak of surprise but hugged him back tightly. When he pulled away, he stayed close, leaning his head on her shoulder. She smiled warmly and laid her head on his with closed eyes, feeling relieved that he seemed to finally be feeling better after the exercise she put him through. Of all the teammates, Robin was her brother; her impressionable little brother who she needed to protect from the world and pressures about who he was supposed to become and to do it alone.

“You two look awfully cozy.” Their eyes jumped open and heads popped up at the sharp tone in Conner’s voice.

They looked up and saw Conner and Zatanna looking at them strangely. Chimera rolled her eyes and laid her head down on Robin’s shoulder. “It’d be a lot cozier if you two joined us,” she teased. Robin smiled invitingly at Zatanna.

Zatanna looked at Conner to see what he wanted to do. When he shrugged, they approached the duo. Robin gave Conner a devious smile as he got closer. “So… who do _you_ want to cozy up to Conner?”

Conner glared at him in response, not at all appreciating the jab. Zatanna looked back and forth between them, unsure what the underlying insinuation was. If it was flirting, she didn’t want to interfere. If it wasn’t, she didn’t get the joke. Chimera was the one to break the tension. “Oh my God, just come here!” She reached up and pulled Conner down to sit next to her, conveniently leaving the space next to Robin available for Zatanna.

Conner had a different idea though. He shifted his weight to change his trajectory, landing on top of Chimera instead of next to her. She grunted from the impact and let out a squawk of indignation. “This looks like a good place to get cozy,” he sighed out smugly, wiggling into a more comfortable position.

Chimera responding by both groaning and giggling heartily and trying to push him off of her. “Get off me you big oaf,” she managed to squeak out between giggles.

Conner looked around them, an exaggeratedly confused look on his face. “Do you guys hear something? I could have sworn I heard something…”

Chimera groaned again from his movements. She managed to shift her legs enough for him to drop to the floor between her legs, allowing her to leverage her legs behind him and push him away. “Did you hear that?” she grunted out as she pushed him away. “God, I thought Wolf was bad.”

Conner shrugged with a self-pleased grin and shifted over to her side, bumping her shoulder. “It’s not my fault you’re so small. You’re like a little bug. In fact,” he continued missing the way Chimera’s face paled, “I think I’m going to start calling you Bug.”

Chimera’s eyes widened fractionally at his words. She wanted to blow the words off, she really did, but it was too coincidental. It hit too close to home and too soon. The air around her grew thick making breathing difficult. “Chi?” Conner leaned closer, finally noticing her odd reaction. He reached up to stroke her cheek, hoping it would calm her down.

She shook her head slightly before his hand landed and gave him a strained smile. “No, not Bug.”

Conner watched her with a concerned look in his eyes for a moment before nodding. “Okay, not Bug. How about Mouse?” he offered instead with a gentle smile.

“Not much better,” she mumbled, looking down and pulling her legs into her chest.

“That’s okay. We don’t have to use either one. I’ll think of something, something small and cute,” he grinned at her.

Chimera blushed lightly and kept her eyes down for a few moments, trying to gather herself while feeling Conner’s full attention on her. She and Conner missed the knowing look Robin and Zatanna shared. When Chimera finally looked up again, she playfully glared at Conner. “Fine, but then I get to call you Moose.” Conner mock gaped at her. “You know, something huge and lumbering.” She poked him in the side to accentuate her point. Conner jumped with a yelp.

Chimera raised a questioning eyebrow at him and looked over to Robin who looked back at her with a wicked grin that she matched immediately. “He’s ticklish,” Chimera commented in a dangerously innocent tone.

“It would appear he is,” Robin agreed, his grin getting even more dangerous.

“No, nope. I’m not,” Conner protested loudly. “But I think I’m late for…” He started getting up quickly trying to think of a way to finish the sentence that seemed natural. After a few seconds he gave up and instead went with, “…yeah. See ya,” and bolted from the room as quickly as he could.

The three remaining teens laughed at his hasty exit until Robin spoke up. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go get him.”

Chimera smiled excitedly back at him, surging up to rush after him but paused before she took her first step. “Hey, didn’t you have some macarons you set aside to share with Zatanna,” she prompted Robin with a wink before speeding after Conner. 

Robin’s cheeks flushed a dark pink at her comment. He turned away from Zatanna so she wouldn’t see his blush. But Zatanna was too focused on the interaction she just witnessed. “Are they always… like that?” She motioned generally toward the direction they had just run.

Robin rolled his eyes, which was significantly less effective than it could have been considering nobody could see him rolling his eyes. “All the time. But they’re ‘just teammates’.”

Zatanna gaped at him. “Do they not realize?”

“Conner definitely does,” Robin assured her. “But Chi… has reasons. I think he’s helping her get past them though... I hope anyway.” He looked away, not wanting to explain further. He noticed the plate of macarons and grabbed them to show them to Zatanna. “Want to share? They’re really good.” Zatanna reached for one but yanked her hand back when they heard a loud yelp from Conner. Zatanna and Robin looked at each other and laughed as Zatanna grabbed a macaron.

Chimera chased after Conner, narrowly missing him a few times. He yelped loudly as her fingers skimmed his side again. He smiled as she readjusted her path to try to cut him off again. Chimera laughed freely and loudly as she chased after him. It was one of the loveliest sounds he’d ever heard. Chimera laughed frequently, but this sounded freer and happier than any other he’d heard from her.

He jumped down the stairs a flight at a time, trying to get more distance between the two of them. He rushed into the workshop looking all around him to locate Chimera. He couldn’t see her or hear her, which wasn’t unusual actually. He backed out of the room and eyed the hallway and stairs to the gymnasium warily. She couldn’t have gotten past him, could she? He had to have lost her. He still kept his eyes on his surroundings, darting from possible hiding spot to possible hiding spot, body tensed for running once he spotted her. 

There! A shadow and typing in the laboratory. He grinned and tried to figure out how to use his knowledge. He could run and get away, but what was the fun in that? So the question was, how should he ambush her? He considered the ways to ambush her; rush into the room and grab her, lure her out of the room and pounce, lull her into a false sense of confidence before attacking… there were so many options.

He focused wholly on the laboratory door, not noticing the movement from behind him until he felt a weight on his back, tackling him to the ground. He felt the tickling before he could turn around. He wiggled under her laughing raucously and yelping occasionally. When he finally was able to turn over, he finally spotted Chimera’s brilliant, wide smile and bright, buoyant eyes. He wanted to stop to appreciate their beauty, her beauty, but the tickle attack resumed immediately, not allowing him the time to observe her in awe.

After a few minutes of a one-sided attack, he tried tickling her back. She jumped at the contact, her eyes widening in surprise. “Uh oh,” she whispered absentmindedly. Conner grinned with his newfound power and resumed the tickle war. They rolled around on the floor, one getting the upper hand for a few moments before the other was able to push them off and take control. After they were both almost out of breath from laughing so hard, Conner finally managed to get the upper hand and get on top, pinning her hands to the floor above her head and straddling her thighs so she couldn’t wrap them around him to unbalance him again.

“Give up?” He smirked at her.

“Never,” she giggled defiantly. She started wiggling beneath him, trying to escape. After a few seconds, Conner’s breath caught, catching Chimera’s attention. She looked up at him curiously, only then noticing how close their faces were and how suggestive their position was. Chimera gasped and looked up at Conner with wide eyes, her mouth involuntarily forming an ‘oh’. Conner leaned down slowly, waiting to see how Chimera reacted. Chimera parted her lips slightly, her eyes darting from his eyes to his lips and back. 

Her eyes immediately leapt to the familiar black boots that started tapping the floor by her head accompanying the sound of Zatara clearing his throat. Conner’s head snapped to the sound as well, shock clear on his face. Zatara’s critical stare wasn’t nearly as bad as Batman’s knowing smirk. “What is going o…” Before he could finish the sentence, he and Batman disappeared. Conner jumped up and looked around, trying to figure out where they had disappeared to. His body tensed in preparation for another fight in their home. “Chi? Please tell me that was one of your illusions,” he asked quietly.

Chimera stood up carefully, still staring warily at the spot Batman had been standing a few seconds before. She shook her head slowly. “That wasn’t me,” she answered just as quietly. “I was hoping _I_ would disappear, not _them_.”

<><><><><>

The sound of crying was so loud and distressed, it gave Superboy anxiety just hearing it. He finally located the source of the crying, a battered car in a pileup. He ripped the door off of its hinges, praying the child was okay physically, just scared. He looked in the car and found big, brown eyes starting back at him. He smiled at the toddler and unhooked his car seat’s belts.

He gently lifted the toddler out of the car, setting him on his hip. The toddler looked at Superboy apprehensively, but then looked down at the ‘S’ on Superboy’s chest, the ‘S’ that matched the symbol on the toddler’s own chest. He tentatively touched the symbol and smiled up at Superboy. The way the toddler looked at him, like he was a hero, made Superboy swell with pride.

He made his way back to the high school’s gym, which they had set up as a refuge for local kids. He heard several more children crying along the way and stopped to rescue them. He was glad he was finding the kids, but he was finding them in increasingly perilous positions. He had to actively stop his mind from thinking of the children they wouldn’t be able to get to. The sooner they reversed whatever had happened, if they even could, the better for the children.

He finally made it back to the gym and pushed the doors open with a sigh. He stopped and smiled at the sight in the gym. There were a handful of kids of different ages. There were different pockets of older kids talking and playing games on different devices, another group of older kids setting up pack n’ plays and sleeping bags in one corner of the gym, some slightly younger kids watching movies on a few different televisions on carts, Artemis was singing songs to a group of preschool age kids, and Wally was organizing the supplies Chimera had sent him out to get. 

But the sight that took his breath away was Chimera making faces at the babies they had found, getting the babies to laugh. She had two more on her hips she was bouncing at the same time. He made his way over to her with the extra kids they’d found. “Got three more for you,” he reported with a smile.

Chimera gave him a relieved smile and set down the babies in bouncy seats. “They look like they’re having fun with you. You must be a natural with kids.” He blushed when she reached up to help remove the kids that were climbing on him. She was so close her body was skimming his as she reached, and he could feel her breath on his neck. He wanted to turn his face just so. At this distance it would put their lips only centimeters apart. He clenched his eyes and turned his face the other direction. It might be a literal dream for him, but Chimera had been clear it wasn’t hers, although after what happened earlier in the Cave he wasn’t positive. It seemed like she wanted to kiss him too, didn’t it? Or maybe she just froze and he misinterpreted?

“Hey, my little angel. How are you doing? Let’s take you over to listen to the music. Carrie? Ed?” She called over her shoulder, pulling Superboy out of his thoughts. Two teens about their age came over with matching smiles. “Can you two help get our new visitors acquainted with the area please?”

“Of course,” Carrie chimed in, taking the little girl from Chimera’s hands.

“How are you…” she stopped when her com went off with an instruction from Aqualad to return to the Cave. “Sorry, guys. It looks like duty calls. We have to get back to the Justice League Headquarters to start coordinating a plan to get the adults back. Will you be okay?”

“As okay as we can be. We’ll do our best while you’re gone. Good luck.” Ed encouraged them.

“Thanks,” she answered with a smile. “Ready, Superboy?” 

Superboy nodded to her and gave Carrie and Ed a wave. “And good luck to you guys as well.”

Superboy hopped on his motorcycle, making room for Chimera behind him. He eyed her as he got his helmet situated. “You seem awfully calm about this. With all the kids wandering around, I would have thought you’d be more on edge.”

She shrugged at him as she got comfortable behind him. She tried not to think about their interaction earlier in the Cave as she wound her arms around his waist. “I’m terrified on the inside for the kids. But, it’s not that unfamiliar. A world without parents? Been there, done that.” He turned to give her a questioning look, but she waved him off. “We need to get back to the Cave. Kid Flash and Artemis are probably already there.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned at her before turning back to start his motorcycle.

As predicted, they were the last ones to enter the mainframe room. “Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros,” Zatanna stated loudly, holding her hands up toward the image of the globe that was projected in the middle of the room. After a few moments, a red dot appeared along the eastern coast of the United States.

“Coordinates locked, Roanoke Island,” Robin announced. He looked to Zatanna with an impressed look. “You did it, Zatanna!”

She looked at him sheepishly, impressed herself that it had worked. She hadn’t fully expected that it would. “Thanks,” she said as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

The group moved to the monitors against the wall to start formulating a plan. Chimera elbowed Robin and gave him a wink as she passed by. Robin blushed and shoved her away. Superboy walked up next to Chimera and gave her a questioning look. “I’ll explain later,” she assured him quietly with a smile.

“Okay,” Aqualad started. He opened his mouth to continue formulating a plan but before he could get the next word out, they heard someone behind them shout, “It works.” They whirled around as a unit and headed to the boy who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Where did you come from? Who are you?” Aqualad demanded. 

“Um… Chimera, you know me. You saw through my transformation the first time you met me,” the kid tried.

Chimera eyed him curiously. After a few moments she cocked her head to the side and studied him harder. “You seem familiar but… Sorry, I don’t know you.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. You were pretty out of it. Conner had to carry you because you couldn’t walk.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the ground as he spoke, missing the way the rest of the group froze at the mention of Conner’s name. “Oh! I know!” he exclaimed loudly, making Zatanna jump back in surprise. “You called Superman a cold bastard! Actually, Superman and Batman.” He smiled widely at the memory. “It was awesome.”

“Captain Marvel,” Robin whispered out in wonder.

“Hey, no. Just because he found out a few of our secrets doesn’t make him Captain Marvel.” Kid Flash insisted. “Although I agree that was amazing. One of my favorite memories.” He grinned at Chimera who scrunched her face in embarrassment and buried her head in Superboy’s shoulder, which only succeeded in adding a blush to her predicament once she realized what she had done, both hers and Superboy’s.

“Gee, Wally, do I really have to bring you nachos and pineapple juice to get on your good side?” the kid asked with a smug smile.

Kid Flash eyed him suspiciously. “Do you have some? Cuz’ it couldn’t hurt.”

“What do we call you, kid?” Artemis asked.

“Billy. Call me Billy,” he answered with a grateful smile.

“Alright Billy, where did you come from?” Aqualad asked.

“I came from a dimension with only adults. All the kids were missing from that dimension. My friend… I was in this dimension and was with a friend, but as soon as she turned eighteen, she disappeared and reappeared in the adult dimension. I was just there with Batman and Zatara…”

“My Dad!” Zatanna exclaimed excitedly. “How is he?”

“He’s fine. He’s worried about you.” Billy assured her. “They think our dimension got split into two dimensions, one for adults and one for kids.”

“So, we’ll need to figure out how to combine them,” Aqualad nodded as he thought. “Our best chance is to work together on it. Billy, can you carry messages back and forth?”

Billy nodded in response. “I can. They had the same idea.”

Artemis stared at Chimera for a few moments while Aqualad considered what exactly he wanted Billy to tell Batman and Zatara. “Hey Chi! Can your portals go between dimensions?” 

Chimera quirked her head to the side considering the question. After a few moments she shrugged and said “Only one way to find out, I guess. I’ll need something to link to… to track? Some way of knowing where to end the portal.”

“Maybe Zatanna could help with that,” Robin suggested. He turned to Zatanna, “Is there a way for you to trace where Captain Marvel goes?”

Zatanna chewed her lip nervously. “I don’t know. I could barely do the spell to locate the source of this magic and that is in our dimension. Crossing dimensions…”

“It wouldn’t help anyway,” Chimera interjected. “Even if she could find a link to it, I’m the one that needs to connect. Unless you have a way to transfer that knowledge to me…” she trailed off mind running through different options and throwing each away as soon as she thought of them. She shifted as she thought and bright red caught her attention. She looked up to see Billy nervously fidgeting, pulling on his red hoodie’s strings. Billy, who could move between the dimensions. Billy, who could take things with him… “I have an idea. Billy, come with me.”

“Wait, if you have an idea, shouldn’t we all be a part of this conversation,” Robin spoke up.

Chimera studied them thoughtfully. She didn’t want to leave them out of the plan, they were teammates after all, but she couldn’t tell them her plan completely either, not without giving away vital details about herself. She had to phrase it just right. “I can’t use Zatanna’s knowledge, but I can use Billy to create my own. I can link my powers to Billy and if we’re lucky, it will stick with him when he transforms.”

“Why do you need to do that somewhere else?” Superboy asked cautiously.

“It’s a… delicate process and I need as few distractions as possible.” Chimera reported. It was as close to the truth as she could get. Superboy frowned, along with Robin and Kid Flash, but didn’t interfere.

“Um, okay. I guess,” Billy said uncertainly. 

“It’ll be fine, Billy. It’ll either work or it won’t. There won’t be any side effects.” Chimera assured him with a smile. “Come on, let’s find a good place to do this.” 

They made their way to her room and she let him in, closing the door behind them. “If you could not tell anyone anything about any of this, I would greatly appreciate it,” she said nervously.

“Why? What are you going to do to me?” Billy backed against the wall apprehension clear in his movements.

Chimera laughed. “Nothing to you. It’s just… I don’t let anyone in here and I let you in even though I don’t know you that well. I think it might upset a few people. But it’s the only place I’m sure doesn’t have any cameras.”

Billy nodded slowly. “Why don’t you want cameras?”

Chimera leveled him with a serious look, forcing his entire attention on her. “Can you keep a secret, Billy? I mean someone else’s secret?” Billy nodded like in a trance. Chimera nodded, a resolved look on her face. “Kaalki, dismount,” she announced loudly.

In a flash of light, she transformed from her regular suit to an orange suit with ears. He looked at her in awe. “Is this… is this what you usually look like?”

She giggled at him before throwing a sugar cube in the air. “No. I use magical objects called ‘miraculous’ to acquire my powers. I called off one of the powers. That floating creature next to you is the one in charge of my portalling power. I can’t take her to the other dimension,” she grinned knowingly at Billy, “but maybe you can. You can take her with you to the other dimension, and once you do, she should know how to get back there.” She turned back to Kaalki. “Does that sound doable?”

Kaalki floated closer to Billy with a disgusted look on her face. “Are you famous and fabulous?”

“He is both,” Chimera confirmed. Kaalki sighed but agreed to help. 

“Okay, so how do we do this?” Chimera suddenly looked uncertain. When I transform, anything I wear is lost until I change back. Is that the way it works for you?”

Billy nodded, the sudden realization that it wouldn’t be as easy as they had thought hitting him. “So… I can’t transform after… maybe I can transform before? Do you think the magic will combine?”

Kaalki shook her head. “Different magics. They won’t combine and will likely cause some damage.”

“Okay, so we’re not doing that…” Chimera leaned against her desk thinking of options again, running through likelihood of success, dangers, workarounds. After a few minutes she straightened up, a pensive look on her face. “Kaalki, the kwami dimension, do you think that is interdimensional?”

Kaalki smiled at her. “It does transcend time and space,” she confirmed.

“So, if Captain Marvel freed one of the kwamis in the adult dimension and they returned to the kwami realm, they could transfer the knowledge to you?” Chimera asked with an excited glint in her eyes.

Kaalki considered it for a few moments. “Yes, it should work. He should take Nooroo. He is the best at transmission of knowledge.”

Chimera nodded in agreement. “Right. Hmmm.”

“What is it, Guardian?”

“We’ve gone up against powerful magic before and it was rough. I’m wondering if a few more tools might be helpful,” Chimera responded thoughtfully. “Might be a good idea to have some _protection_ …”

“Some _destructive_ power wouldn’t be a bad idea either,” Kaalki supplied. “Maybe being extra _creative_ might help in the fight?”

Chimera gave her a strained smiled. “I think it’s too soon for me to get creative again. But they were talking about bringing in Doctor Fate again. It might be better if we could create a champion with powers like his but without the side effects.”

“You can do that?” Billy asked in wonder.

“If we need to, but it would be really complicated. It might risk exposing my identity for people who know what to look for. A last resort, I think.” She lowered her head in thought considering how she might be able to implement it. After a few moments she shook her head to focus on the task at hand. If she needed to pull out the broach, she would, but again, only as a last resort. 

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to take you with me as Billy to where you can find Nooroo’s broach. You switch to Captain Marvel, find the broach, and free him in the adult dimension. When he says he is ready, put him back so he can return to the kwami dimension. I’ll let Kaalki return to the dimension from my side. Nooroo will transfer the knowledge to Kaalki and she can use it to create a portal between the dimensions. I need to make a side trip for something a bit destructive, then we will return to the Cave and you turn back into Captain Marvel to let them know what we are planning.” She looked to him for understanding. As soon as he nodded back at her, she smiled and called back on her transformation. “Let’s get to it.”


	8. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team and a few of the Justice League mentors face off against Klarion and his cohorts.

The portal hovered between the two groups, allowing them to see each other but not touch. The portal was a godsend for Zatara and Zatanna. Although they couldn’t hug, they could be assured the other was fine. The rest of the group focused on working together to plan, now that they had done some reconnaissance.

“Of course it would be Klarion,” Kid Flash growled out. Superboy looked at Chimera with a worried expression, which she pretended she couldn’t see. Their last encounter with Klarion hadn’t gone exceptionally well and she didn’t need Superboy’s apprehension to remind her. But she had prepared this time. She had backup waiting in her flute. She could handle this. Klarion would not get the upper hand on them again.

“The key to this mission is a coordinated, simultaneous attack.” Batman stated gravely, facing through the portal to the Team on the other side. “Our best chance against sorcery is to strike fast disrupt their efforts. And hope the dimensions merge naturally back into one.”

“The crux of the magic appears to be in the gems at the center of the pentagrams,” Zatara stated firmly. “If we join the gems, it will likely join the dimensions as well. Zatanna,” he turned to his daughter, fixing her with a pointed look, “the two will have to become one once more.”

She nodded to him understanding the coded message, giving her the spell she would have to say when the time was right.

“I can help with that.” Chimera spoke up. “I can create a portal once we’re both ready. Then you can touch the stones.”

“Unnecessary,” Zatara spoke up, making a waving motion as though to dismiss the idea. “We do not need to touch the stones physically, but we will need to say the spell at the same time. The portal can help us to time it correctly.”

Batman nodded, indicating that portion of the planning was done. “That just leaves getting the gems. I think Zatara, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, and I can take out the sorcerers on our side, or at least we can distract them until Zatara can get the gem and say the incantation. But how will you,” he motioned toward the Team, “get the gem?”

“Same plan,” Kid Flash stated confidently. “We all distract Klarion so Zatanna can break through his defenses and acquire the stone.”

“I… I don’t think I can. I can’t take someone like Klarion on by myself.” Zatanna said uncertainly. “I think I can help distract him while you,” she motioned to Kid Flash, “get the gem.”

“Whoever has the chance to get the stone, take it then get it to Zatanna,” Aqualad commanded. “Perhaps an illusion of Doctor Fate would be enough to distract him?” Aqualad gave Chimera a pointed look.

“Dangerous,” she lightly shook her head at him. “He knows what to expect from Doctor Fate better than I do and my illusions won’t fool him for more than a few seconds, and I’d be out of commission for a few minutes after.”

“That might be all we need,” he stated with finality.

Chimera nodded to him then glanced over to Batman quickly before returning her gaze to the ground. “If that doesn’t work, I have a few tricks I might be able to play, some less dangerous than others and with varying levels of effectiveness.”

“Dangerous?” Superboy stepped forward.

“Do what you think you need to, just let us know before you do.” Aqualad agreed. “Now…”

“Will this require extra, Chimera?” Batman interrupted.

Chimera froze. She knew what he was asking and grateful that he was speaking in code, but she didn’t know how to respond without the rest of the Team becoming suspicious. He was asking if she needed an extra miraculous, if she would be undergoing an extra strain, so he could prepare for her to collapse afterword. She needed to tell him the truth so he could get her away before she detransformed. She just needed to think of a cover for it. 

Batman must have seen the panic on her face because he spoke up quickly. “Will going up against another ancient, powerful magic be an extra strain on you and your magic,” Batman clarified, providing the cover she was looking for.

She sighed gratefully and nodded at him, “Depending on what I do, possibly. If I don’t have to do any tricks, no strain. If things get… complicated, it will likely cause significant strain.”

Batman gave her a curt nod. “Chimera and Robin will take the jet back with us after the confrontation.”

“Wait, what?” Superboy interjected. His brow was furrowed, and he was frowning in concern. “How dangerous will this be for you?”

Chimera gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “It won’t be. I’ll be fine. He won’t be able to touch me. I’ll just be extra tired at the end of it. Not as bad as the Reds attack though.”

He looked at her seriously and gently squeezed her hand. “He touched you last time.”

Chimera pulled her hand away with an annoyed frown. “I know what I’m capable of, Superboy. And I know what to expect this time.”

Superboy frowned back, “But you like to push yourself. You’re going to push yourself too far… again. Zatara said he was worried about this and he’s an extremely experienced expert on magic.”

“But not on me,” she snapped back.

“And what happened last time we went against Klarion?” Superboy leveled her with a warning look, voice growing angrier with each comment. “You knew what you were capable of last time too.”

“We beat him and Kid Flash started believing in magic.” She glared back at him, decidedly ignoring his reference to the after effects on her from their last encounter with Klarion. “You’re my teammate _Superboy_ , not my mentor. This is the plan our leaders agreed on. Follow it.” 

The silence between them was broken by the last warning beep from her glasses. She turned back to the group before he could respond. “I need to go now before I detransform. Give me a minute and I’ll be ready to produce the Doctor Fate illusion.”

“Go prepare yourself. We will get prepared to head out as well,” Aqualad interjected, eying both of them sternly. “Good luck to you.” He nodded to the adults on the other side of the portal. Batman nodded back to him. Chimera closed the portal and walked away without looking back, missing the glare Superboy shot after her. She understood his concern, she did, but… he needed to direct it somewhere else, for both of their benefits. He needed to keep his mind on the fight, not her.

After a minute, a sugar cube, and more than a few deep, calming breaths, Chimera came out of her section of the ship ready to move. “Alright, Batman’s team is likely already engaged. Klarion may already know something is coming. Artemis, Robin, and Kid Flash, you approach from the North. Zatanna and Superboy, approach from the South. Chimera and I will approach from the West. Chimera, I’ll give you the signal when we are ready for you to cast the illusion on the East side. While he is distracted with Doctor Fate, Kid Flash you try to grab the gem.”

Chimera and Kid Flash both nodded at him. “Yes, sir,” they chorused.

“The rest will be on defense after we have the gem. We keep Klarion away from Chimera and Zatanna at all costs.” The rest of the Team nodded to him and separated into their groups and headed to their positions. Superboy looked to Chimera to wish her luck, but she was already focusing on mentally creating the illusion she would cast. He huffed and followed after Zatanna.

When they got a bit closer, Aqualad nodded to Chimera, indicating it was time, then let the rest of the Team know they were starting. Chimera closed her eyes and pulled up the flute to her lips, playing a gentle tune and quietly saying “Mirage.” As the song ended, the image of Doctor Fate as he had been last time they went up against Klarion appeared in the eastern sky in front of a giant Ankh. “Klarion, this ends now!”

Klarion grimaced at Doctor Fate and shot a beam at him that he easily dodged, but didn’t counter. “Kid Flash, go!” Aqualad instructed into the com. Klarion eyed Fate suspiciously. He gave a furtive look around before returning his eyes to Fate. “One of these things is not like the other,” he whispered, just before a red force field appeared around the pentagram. “That’s the best you can do?” he asked turning to where Kid Flash had just crashed into the force field. “Birthday magician tricks?”

Aqualad and Superboy charged at the force field at the same time Robin threw batarangs and Artemis shot arrows. The force field merely lit up at the impacts, the batarangs and arrows falling uselessly to the ground. Aqualad and Superboy were repelled with equal and opposite force as they applied, flying through the air and landing some distance away. Aqualad groaned and made his way back to Chimera.

Zatanna jumped out in front of Superboy. She held up her hands toward Klarion, “Etativel mih ffo eht margatnep,” she called out loudly. Her spell bouncing off the force field as uselessly as the arrows had.

Klarion scoffed at her attempt. “Baby magic. Fi ehs stnaw ot etativel os yldab tel reh.” He flapped his hand like shooing away a fly. Zatanna screamed as she flew through the air at a high velocity. She was approaching the ground with a speed she was certain would break bones when she felt someone grab her. She looked up to see Superboy holding her. He set her down and turned to see where Chimera was.

Billy appeared next to Aqualad. “How is your progress?”

“Not what we had hoped,” he grimaced in response. “Any ideas on the force field?” Aqualad called through the coms.

“I can’t take it down by myself,” Zatanna reported. “It would require a lot more experience and knowledge than I have. It would take incredibly strong magic to do it. Something as old or older than his magic. An ancient sorcerer or something from Solomon’s Grimoire or a miraculous. We would have to splinter his attention to weaken it.”

Chimera and Billy perked up. “Miraculous?” Billy clarified, eying Chimera.

“An ancient… never mind. We don’t have one and I don’t know where to find one or how to control one,” Zatanna answered for them.

“It’s an ancient, evil magic,” Aqualad said darkly.

Zatanna’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Chimera reeled back like she’d been slapped. “Magic is neither good nor evil. It is like knowledge or a tool, it can be used for good or for evil, but it is neither, in and of itself.” Zatanna corrected him.

“You don’t know the history of it like I do,” Aqualad snapped.

“You’re right, we know it better,” Chimera snapped back, throwing him a condescending look before turning back to face Klarion’s direction. “I can take the force field down.”

Zatanna scrunched up her face, uncertainty laced through her eyes. “Are you… are you sure? This is ancient magic. It’s strong. I don’t think even my father could handle it on his own,” she cautioned her.

Chimera gave a determined look, “So is mine. But mine is older than his and more powerful. I can take down the force field.” Zatanna looked at the other members of the Team near her to see if anyone else doubted Chimera’s confidence. The rest of the Team she could see looked nervous but unwilling to question Chimera’s statement, except for Superboy who looked like he had been angered by it.

“Chi…” he started with a growl, but Billy cut in before he could finish his statement. 

“She can do it. Batman agrees,” he lied cutting off all disagreement. Superboy growled and punched the ground in frustration. Just because Chimera _could_ do something, it didn’t mean it was _safe_ for her to do it and she never differentiated the two.

Aqualad nodded to them and turned to face his team’s direction, despite not being able to see them. “It is our job to distract him so Chimera can get to the force field. Once the force field is down, Zatanna and the rest of us distract Klarion so Kid Flash can grab the gem. Once you have the gem, hand it off to Zatanna. Once Zatanna gets the stone, Billy, you return to Batman to let them know, then return to us once they are ready. Once we hear from Billy, Chimera, create the portal between the two dimensions. Everybody understand their roles?”

There were a series of affirmatives. “Then let’s go,” Aqualad told his group.

“I need more time,” Chimera spoke up. “I need to recharge. I need at least… two minutes? Billy will let you know when I’m ready to go. I’ll cast a camouflage illusion so you won’t be able to see me or hear me, and more importantly, neither will Klarion.” 

“Would a distraction be useful?” Kid Flash asked eying Klarion’s familiar. “Because I think I have an idea.”

“It would. Something to keep him from accidentally shooting a spell in my direction, but you need to focus on getting the gem as soon as the force field is down,” Chimera reminded him.

“But Artemis doesn’t. How do you feel about taking out a cat?” Kid Flash asked with a grin. “When Fate took over my body, he was able to weaken Klarion by attacking his cat.”

“I never liked cats anyway,” Artemis grinned in response.

“And I think I can create a few distractions on our side,” Robin added. “Will we be able to see when the force field is down?”

“I have no idea, but I’ll tell you when I’ve acted,” Chimera reported.

“Okay, get prepared for your parts. We wait for Billy’s signal.” Aqualad commanded.

“Chi, see you on the other side,” Superboy added hopefully.

“We’re not done yet,” Chimera answered with a smile, before shaking her head to clear the soft, unbidden thoughts that appeared at his words. “Billy, you’re with me.” She moved over to the woods for cover, Billy close on her heels. “Kaalki, Trixx separate,” she said quietly. Kaalki spiraled out of the glasses floating in front of Billy. “Thanks Kaalki. I’ll need you soon but for now, Billy, can you hold these for me until you have to leave?”

He nodded and held onto the glasses for her. She opened her flute and pulled out Plagg’s ring. She took a deep breath before putting it on. Plagg appeared next to her. “Pigtails! How are you doing? Have you…” he looked around and saw Billy behind him. He turned back to Chimera with a curious grin. “What do we get to destroy?”

“An evil sorcerer’s magic bubble.” She smirked at him knowing how he would react.

Plagg rubbed his hands together with a gleeful cackle. “I haven’t gotten to do that in _ages_.”

“Ready?” She waited until Plagg nodded to continue. “Plagg, Trixx, unite.” She was washed in a flash of light as Plagg and Trixx’s costumes combined.

“That is so awesome!” Billy exclaimed in awe.

“Thanks,” she smiled at him. “I think so too when I see other people do it. Plagg, Trixx, separate.” Trixx twirled in front of her. “Eat up Trixx, there’s more fun to be had.” 

Trixx grinned excitedly and ate his cookie in two bites. “Ready.”

Marinette smiled thankfully at him. “Plagg, Trixx, unite.” She was washed in orange light, her costume changing again. She took a steadying breath and put the flute to her lips and played a new song and quietly said “Mirage.”

“Oh my God that is so awesome!” Billy exclaimed again. He touched the com in his ear, “She’s invisible. Like really, actually invisible.”

As soon as Billy’s announcement went over the coms, the rest of the Team moved in a coordinated attack. Zatanna cast a duplication spell to make it seem like multiples of each of the Team members were attacking. Aqualads and Superboys started hitting the force field again, pretending it was their strategy. Robins threw exploding batarangs, causing large explosions, with loud booms, but no other effect. 

Klarion laughed at the attacks. “Feel free to wear yourselves out. But that’s all you’re doing.” He shot a mouthful of fire toward Zatanna, who dodged out of the way just in time with a yelp.

Artemis took a stealthier approach than the rest of the Team, moving in the shadows until she was in a position to fire on Klarion’s familiar. All she had to do was hit him and that would be enough. She didn’t have to kill him, though that would be a bonus. As soon as she was at a good vantage point, she aimed and fired. She watched as the arrow flew true until it was a few feet away from its target, then turned to a ball of yarn.

“Show them what the familiar to a Lord of Chaos can do, Teekl,” Klarion cackled. He motioned to his familiar turning him into a cat more like a sabertooth tiger than a house cat. The cat reared toward Artemis who took a few steps back in fear. Superboy ran at the cat to intercede. Teekl jumped on Superboy, knocking him down and trying to tear him apart. Chimera fought the urge to yell his name and run to help him. She needed to focus on her job. They would never be able to finish this if she didn’t.

“Okay tiny cat is big now, he’s big now.” Kid Flash commented from his position in the shadows.

She held her breath as she reached up to gently lay her hand to the force field. Despite her earlier bravado, she wasn’t completely confident it would work. This was the moment of truth. Not only for today, but for any future encounters. If she could do this, she could handle him in the future as well. It would prove miraculous magic was more powerful than his.

The moment the destructive energy touched the force field, it started to disintegrate, bright cracks branched out from the contact point like steel wool lit on fire, until the entire field was covered in cracks. When the last cracks touched, the force field exploded in a show of light and energy.

Unfortunately, Chimera missed the display, having already run to the woods for cover. She touched her com, “Force field should be down.” She turned off the com and smiled at Billy. “Ready?” He nodded at her. “Trixx, Plagg separate.” She called out quietly before putting on Kaalki’s glasses. Plagg twirled out of her ring and looked to her with a masked concern. “Kaalki, Trixx, unite.” She called out before immediately continuing, “Kaalki, Trixx, separate.”

“Kid Flash has the gem,” Billy reported to her. “Now Zatanna has it. They’re trying to protect her.”

Chimera nodded. “You better go then,” she told Billy. He nodded back before yelling “Shazam” and disappearing in an earth-shaking boom. 

“You sure you don’t need me anymore, Pigtails?” Plagg sounded uncharacteristically concerned. But Chimera couldn’t comfort him right now. Trixx appeared next to him with a matching expression of concern. Chimera peeked out from her hiding spot and froze at the sight. Zatanna was barely concealed, the familiar still had Superboy on the ground. He as barely keeping the familiar’s teeth from reaching him. Klarion was torturing the rest of the Team with some kind of cruciatus curse. 

“Damn it,” she cursed quietly, looking back at Plagg. “No, recharge. I don’t know what is going to happen and I need a plan.” 

Trixx peeked out curiously, his eyes widening suddenly. “Guardian, you might want to check your sorceress.”

Chimera whipped around to check on Zatanna. She had summoned the Helmet of Fate and was reaching out for it. “Son of a…” She reached up and turned on her com. “Zatanna!” she yelled. “Don’t you dare! I will kick your ass for even thinking about it and I will personally unleash my full potential on Doctor Fate, probably killing both of us. Put that damned thing down NOW!”

“I have to do something if we want to win,” she answered uncertainly.

“You will, you’ll combine the gems. Give me twenty seconds to fix this,” Chimera begged. “Give me just twenty seconds before you act.”

Zatanna nodded absentmindedly, “Twenty seconds. Okay.”

“Okay,” Chimera answered with a relieved sigh. She turned off her com. “Okay. Twenty seconds to figure this out. Distraction and protection.” She looked at her kwami in front of her. “But I can’t wield four…” She focused on Plagg and cocked her head to the side. “Plagg, do you want to go play with a big, mean kitty?”

“How gently?” he asked with an evil glint in his eyes.

“I don’t care about gentle. I care about covert. The sorcerer cannot see you and it’s even better if the cat doesn’t either. And Plagg?” He looked at her curiously. “I might need to use a sample of your untethered destruction. Think you can unleash a controlled version through the pentagram when I give a signal?”

“No problem Guardian.” He grinned preparing to fly off to antagonize a cat and cause some chaos of his own.

“On my signal. Trixx, Kaalki, unite.” She was bathed in an orange light and immediately put on the bracelet. “Wayzz, Trixx, Kaalki, unite.” She was bathed in a green light. “Plagg go” She instructed, peeking out from her hiding spot. She put the flute up to her lips and played another tune before whispering “Mirage.” 

Nothing appeared to be different. Nothing about the scene changed. Her teammates were still being tortured, the cat was still on top of Superboy but was now distracted, giving Superboy the opportunity to throw him off, and Zatanna was still eying the Helmet with determination. “Shelter!” she called out quietly. She reached up and turned on her com. “I’ve started, Zatanna. DO NOT put the helmet on.”

Zatanna looked over at the teammates and noticed they were no writhing in pain, but were still curled up in fetal positions on the ground. She looked over and saw Klarion’s gleeful expression, like it was part of his plan. “Are you sure, Chimera? Klarion seems awfully happy with the way things are going.”

Chimera gave a strained chuckle, “That’s because he’s seeing what I want him to see. Ready for the next phase? Things are about to get interesting in 3, 2, 1.”

“Klarion!” Chimera exclaimed, drawing the sorcerer’s attention to her. Zatanna and Superboy’s heads whipped over to Chimera.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Superboy demanded, moving toward her only to bounce off of the shelter’s walls. “What the hell is this?” He pounded against the walls trying to break through to Chimera. “Is this another of Klarion’s force fields?”

“No,” Zatanna answered eying the shelter. “Chimera created it somehow. Klarion is still seeing what things looked like before.”

“She’s out there alone,” he exclaimed helplessly, pounding on the walls again. He tried pushing the walls. Maybe he could move it even if he couldn’t break it, but nothing happened. The shelter didn’t budge. “How did she even do this?”

Zatanna shook her head. “No idea.” She looked down to the helmet in her hands. She placed it gently on the ground. “Let’s check the rest of the Team.” She moved over to Robin who was curled in a ball on the ground. He responded but slowly, still recovering from the pain that had wracked his whole body.

Superboy almost dropped Aqualad as he was helping him up when one of Klarion’s spells hit Chimera. She fell down to one knee, but looked back up with a smug grin. “Is that all you have? What was it you called Zatanna’s magic?” She tapped her chin as she pretended to think about it. “Ah, yes. Baby magic. What does that make yours? Neonatal?” 

Klarion’s eyes widened in surprise and fear as she levitated without any spells. She shot a spell at him that he deflected causing the ground around him to explode. “Did I forget to mention? I’ve leveled up since the last time we met.” She cocked her head to the side with a mocking frown. “It looks like you leveled down though.”

“Why is she baiting him?” Superboy growled in frustration. “She’s just making him more vicious toward her.”

“That appears to be her plan,” Aqualad commented.

“That is a stupid plan!” Superboy yelled. 

Klarion screamed in frustration and sent another spell at her. She shot a spell to the ground and created a thick dirt all that his spell bounced off of. She laughed at his efforts and spun in the air. “If all you wanted to do was play, we could have set up a play date.”

He screamed again and sent a volley of spells toward her. She gave a bored sigh and waved the spells away, causing the trees around the clearing to catch on fire. “Ooohhh,” she grimaced seeing the trees on fire. “Well, that’s not good for the environment. Careful Poison Ivy might not like that.”

“How is she doing that?” Kid Flash asked in awe. Artemis watched silently next to him, leaning on him for support after the beating her body took earlier.

Robin eyed the scene in front of them with apprehension. Chimera had mentioned that her powers could do terrible things. Was this what she meant? But if she was capable of this, why wouldn’t she have pulled it out before? Was this new or was this what contributed to the desolation she had described to him earlier? Is that why she didn’t want to use it?

“This is getting boring, Klarion. What do you say we increase the chaos? You’re a self-proclaimed Lord of Chaos, that should be right up your ally, right?”

Klarion looked at her apprehensively. Chimera giggled and shot a flash of magic toward him. Klarion had to dodge out of the way at the last minute to miss it, but the shot hit the pentagram. The Team braced themselves as the ground shook violently and a large crack broke the ground through the entirety of the pentagram and continuing further.

Superboy couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene and started pounding on the force field again until they heard Zatanna yelp next to them. They all looked over at the same time to see a portal opened next to Zatanna. “Are you ready, daughter?” they heard Zatara’s voice through the portal.

Zatanna nodded and held up the gem. They nodded to each other and started the spell at the same time. “Yam eht owt emoceb eno ecno erom”

With a blinding flash of light, the adult superheroes and sorcerers appeared in front of them. Klarion looked around and sighed. “Boy, they sure don’t make evil, immortal sorcerers like they used to,” he commented before creating a portal for himself and his familiar. He turned to Chimera with a glare. “This is not over. This was fun, but next time, I’ll be prepared. We will meet again. Come, Teekl,” he commanded before both he and the familiar walked through the portal.

Superboy whipped his head back to where Chimera was floating, watching as she landed next to Batman. The protective bubble disappeared and he ran to her. He reached out to her but his hands passed through her and she disappeared in front of his eyes along with all the damage, the fire in the trees, and the wall of dirt, all except the crack that had formed in the ground. He looked around in confusion. Kid Flash walked up next to him and stopped, mouth dropped in confusion. “What the actual f…”

“Everything looking back to normal out there?” Chimera’s voice sounded over the coms.

“Chi,” Superboy called out in relief. “Where are you?”

“I’m recharging. I’ll be out in a minute,” she said breathlessly.

“I’ll come to you. Where are you?” he repeated scanning the horizon for a sign of her.

“No.” she answered firmly, a touch of annoyance in her voice. “I’ll be out in a minute after I’ve recharged.” 

“She’s fine, just tired,” Billy confirmed. Superboy glowered at the answer. Billy was with her while she was detransformed. She had gone on and on about how important her identity was to her. It was so important she couldn’t reveal it to him. But apparently, she could reveal it to a kid she barely knew.

After a minute they heard Billy shout “Shazam” and Chimera and Captain Marvel walked out of the woods. Captain Marvel bounded over to the others congratulating them on their success. Chimera smiled but moved slower than him. Superboy was moving to help her before he considered how betrayed he felt. He reached her and immediately pulled her into a tight hug, grateful to be able to feel her and be reassured she was fine. She returned the hug but pulled away after a moment to put distance between them. 

He scowled at the distance. It was another reminder she was just a teammate. Whatever had happened earlier in the day was a fluke. They were friends, not more. “Great illusion,” he grumbled. “Had us all fooled.”

“Thanks,” she smiled weakly back at him. “Glad this one fooled Klarion. I wasn’t sure after the first one failed.” She turned back to the rest of the group and started walking, but tripped over her feet and almost fell. Superboy caught her easily and picked her up in a bridal hold. She squeaked and looked up at him with surprise. “I… I can walk. I don’t… I don’t need to be carried,” she stuttered.

Superboy sighed. “No, you don’t, but that doesn’t mean you should have to. I’m your _teammate,_ so I’m going to help.” The words still tasted bitter on the tongue. Repeated use hadn’t made them more palatable. “You don’t have to do everything on your own, you know.”

Chimera opened her mouth to object but decided she was too tired to fight this particular battle. “Okay,” she responded quietly instead.

“Take her to the Batjet,” Batman commanded.

Chimera could feel Superboy tense under her and see the rest of her Team’s faces furrow in concern. “I can portal home instead. I have enough strength for that,” she offered.

“No, I want to check you after that fight,” Batman answered sternly, permitting no dissent.

“I’ll go back with the Team,” Zatara stated with an edge to his voice, eying the Helmet of Fate with a hostility they had never seen on his face. “There are a few things I’d like to discuss with my daughter.”

Zatanna paled significantly, her eyes widened in dread of the lecture that was surely coming. Chimera and Superboy looked to each other and sighed. They weren’t going to win this and they knew it. Superboy started walking to the Batjet with a dejected look on his face. He gently set Chimera on one of the cots in the back. He turned to leave, but Chimera grabbed his hand to stop him before he got too far away. “Conner? Are you okay? You seem…” she trailed off not sure how to finish the sentence. “Did something happen? Did I miss something?”

Superboy sighed again. He prepared himself to say he was fine, but flashes of how that went last time, after the simulation, the screams at each other still ringing in his ear. Instead, he looked to her hand holding his and fought his natural instinct to squeeze it. “So, Billy knows your identity too?” he growled at her hand. “Batman, Black Canary, Billy… Is it a B thing? If my name started with a B, you’d tell me too? Is that why you suggested a name that began with a C?”

Her eyes widened in surprise at his sudden turn in mood, but after a moment her eyes turned soft. “No,” she answered quietly. “I was still wrapped in an illusion when he was around.” Not quite truthful, but in part, the part that she knew mattered most to him. “He never saw me. He doesn’t know who I am,” she assured him gently. “I can’t reveal myself, remember?” She paused to look at him for a few moments. She knew she really shouldn’t continue but she couldn’t stop herself. It hurt not to let him know this much. “If I was to reveal myself to anybody, it would be you. But I can’t.”

He looked down and furrowed his brows in frustration. He wasn’t sure if her words made him feel better or worse. “Yeah, I understand,” he grumbled. “Secret identities.”

“It’s more than that it’s…” she looked away for a second. When she turned back to him there was pain in her eyes. “I have…” she snapped her mouth shut. She wanted to finish the sentence and explain what was at stake. She wanted to make him understand, but she couldn’t. Nobody could know. “…a lot of power and the potential for more. But my power isn’t like yours or Wally’s. Mine can be taken away. If anyone knew where to look, where to go, where to find me as a civilian, they could take it. Someone like Klarion… he would be unstoppable. I _can’t_ reveal myself.” She reached up to cup his cheek but stopped her hand midway to his face and pulled it back. “I wish I could. There are a lot of things I wish I could do. But I can’t. It isn’t about what I want. It’s about what’s best for the world. That’s what matters. It’s fun to forget that sometimes, but in the end it will always come back to that.”

“Chi,” he growled out in exasperation. “You said before you needed someone to call you out when you’re being stupid.”

She quirked her lips to the side. “I don’t think that’s what I said…”

“And you’re being stupid,” he continued, speaking over her. “That’s why you have us. We protect each other. We look out for each other. We’re a team. We’re a family. You’re not alone. We’re here for you. I’m here for you… if you’ll let me be. I… _we_ love you. We will not let you do this alone.” She closed her eyes and turned her face away, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. 

“Ready to go?” Robin asked excitedly as he walked into the room. “Oh… uh…” he looked behind him and considered something for a moment before turning back to them. “I’d come back but Batman’s right behind me so…”

Superboy turned back to Chimera, “We’ll talk more later.” She looked away, unsure if she was willing to talk more later or try to pretend the conversation never happened.

Batman walked in the jet and looked between the two, taking in the awkward atmosphere. “Do you need anything, Chimera? More than just rest.”

She perked up slightly giving Batman a broken smile, leaning into the change of topic with more enthusiasm than she felt. “Yeah actually. I heard tell of an American holiday called Thanksgiving. I think it’s next week?”

“Heard tell?” Robin questioned her.

“Shh. I’m speaking American,” Chimera shushed him.

“You’re really not,” Robin shook his head, an amused smile on his face.

“Anyway,” she mock glared at him. “Superboy and I have never experienced one…”

The corners of Batman’s lips quirked up but he quickly recovered it back to his patented neutral face. “I think I can make that happen. I think Agent A would be willing to help you experience your first Thanksgiving.”

“Agent A?” Superboy asked.

“Yeah, he’s amazing. He helps us in Gotham,” Robin answered excitedly. “He’d love it actually. We have to let him come too.”

“And Zatanna and Zatara,” Chimera added. Robin blushed at the comment and gave Chimera a dirty look.

“We’ll see,” Batman answered noncommittally. “But for now we have to get going. Superboy…” he motioned to the exit.

“Right.” He nodded to Batman. “See you guys later.” He nodded to Robin and looked over to Chimera, but she was looking down, staunchly avoiding his eyes.

When they had been in the air a while, Robin turned to Chimera with a sympathetic smile. “Want to talk about it? That looked… rough.”

She sighed in response and closed her eyes. “We were messing around this morning and all the adults disappeared.” She turned to look at him and made an explosion motion with her hands. “Global disaster.”

“What! No. You fixed that. It was a _coincidence_ you fixed.”

 _“We_ fixed,” she corrected him, “and not the point. It was a sign.”

Robin furrowed his brows. He did not like where this conversation was going. “Of what?”

She leaned her head back, “To remember my position.”

Robin was afraid now, “And what is your position?”

Chimera smiled faintly at him and closed her eyes sleepily. “It doesn’t matter. I think I need to rest.”

“Am I… am I supposed to fall for that? You suck at manipulation and misleading people, Chi,” Robin chided her.

She let out a mirthless chuckle, eyes still closed. “I really don’t.”

“This morning wasn’t a sign or a warning that you should be alone. Yeah, the timing sucked, but it was just bad luck.” Chimera curled in a fit of laughter that sounded slightly hysterical. “What?”

She shook her head wryly. “Nothing. Inside joke. Yeah, I’m definitely not as _lucky_ as I used to be.” She stared at her hands for a few moments before shaking her head to clear the thoughts that were filling it. She gave him a weak smile. “You should find Zatanna when we get back and tell her how amazing she was.”

He stared at her incredulously. Was she really trying this blatantly to change the subject? After a few moments of tense silence he looked away and leaned back against the jet’s wall. Now wasn’t the time and he knew it. He hated it, but they wouldn’t make any progress today. She needed time and space… and maybe some therapy. A few sessions with Black Canary would probably be a good idea to set up for her. “She was amazing wasn’t she?” he said instead.

“It’s almost like she’s magic,” Chimera noted with a smirk.

Robin rolled his eyes and groaned. “I’m ending this conversation. That was terrible. Take a nap.” Chimera grinned at his annoyance and would have stayed up longer just to spite him, but her eyes were too heavy and she quickly fell asleep with Robin watching over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No you didn’t miss a chapter where they faced off against Klarion before, I’m just mentioning it as one of their past missions. Don’t ask me what happened last time they went up against Klarion the first time. I don’t know, but Wally was still the one that put on the Helmet of Fate. I’m going to say Marinette couldn’t for the same reason Captain Marvel couldn’t wear a miraculous while being Captain Marvel; different magics.


End file.
